There will be cause for celebration in north London if Spain win the World Cup, with three Arsenal stars in their squad.
Spain face reigning world champions Argentina in Sunday’s final, live on talkSPORT, as they look to get their hands on the World Cup for the second time.
And should La Roja triumph over the Albiceleste in New Jersey, their three Arsenal players will join a very exclusive club indeed.
A rare feat
Only four players have ever won the Premier League title and the World Cup in the same year.
Incidentally, the first two to do so were Arsenal players: Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit with hosts France in 1998, when Les Bleus lifted the trophy for the first time.
It would be 20 years before another player achieved that prestigious double, Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy doing so as France claimed their second World Cup crown.
And the exclusive club’s newest member is Julian Alvarez, who won the 2021/22 Premier League title with Man City and the 2022 World Cup with Argentina – for whom he played every game this summer, scoring in the quarter-final win over Switzerland.
David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino will join the list if Spain follow up their Euro 2024 success with World Cup victory, having helped Arsenal end their 22-year Premier League title drought.
Neither Raya – who, despite winning three straight Premier League Golden Glove awards, is back-up to Unai Simon in goal for his country – nor Zubimendi – who featured in every Premier League game last season – has featured at these finals, though every member of the World Cup-winning squad will receive a medal.
Merino, meanwhile, has proved to be Spain’s super-sub, coming off the bench to score late winners against Portugal in the last 16 and Belgium in the quarter-finals.
Nine other members of the Spain squad won league titles in 2025/26.
Eight of those were part of Barcelona’s LaLiga-winning side: Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Gavi, Dani Olmo, Pedri, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal.
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The other, Fabian Ruiz, retained the Ligue 1 title and Champions League with PSG.
Arsenal’s track record of World Cup success
Arsenal boast the most Premier League players to have won the World Cup while with the club.
As well as the aforementioned Vieira and Petit, four other Gunners stars have been crowned world champions.
Cesc Fabregas played in the Spain team that won the country’s first World Cup in 2010.
Then, four years later, Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker helped Germany to glory.
Victory for Spain on Sunday will also see Crystal Palace join the list of Premier League clubs to supply World Cup-winning players.
Palace’s Yeremy Pino made his major tournament debut in La Roja’s 4-0 group victory over Saudi Arabia.
