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The final numbers: Where MLS ranks for minutes, goals & more at the 2026 World Cup

The numbers don’t lie: by virtually every metric, MLS was the 6th-most successful league at this World Cup

The final numbers: Where MLS ranks for minutes, goals & more at the 2026 World Cup
Screencap via Telemundo

This is a follow-up post from my buddy Tutul Rahman, a certified MLS Sicko and spreadsheet junky who lives to crunch the numbers. I have thoughts on all of the below data – what it means for MLS in both the short and long run – that I'll happily share in the weeks and months to come, both here and on Soccerwise.

For now, though, I think it's important to let the raw data and the context Tutul's provided speak for themselves.

You can read his original post, which tracked the numbers from the group stage only, HERE.

Enjoy!

MLS’s Undisputed Progress In The 2026 FIFA World Cup

No league outside of the “Big Five” leagues in Europe had more player representation on the field during the 2026 FIFA World Cup than MLS.  

Let that sink in. The only leagues that can claim to have more players playing on the world’s biggest stage, are at the very top of the global soccer hierarchy – the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and the French Ligue 1. With all of the conversation about the state of soccer infrastructure in the country after the USMNT’s disappointing exit from the tournament, that single fact is undeniable proof of progress.

When we last checked in at the group stage, MLS stood as the seventh best league with minutes played at this year’s World Cup. Encouragingly, MLS’s representation on the field improved as the tournament progressed into higher stakes knockout matches.  

Before we jump into the data, Tactics-Free Zone has been kind enough to contribute to my fundraiser for Boys & Girls Clubs in providing access to low-to-no cost soccer for kids across the country. If you’re able to contribute, I’d be eternally grateful.

Here’s how the tournament finished in minutes played by league.

Minutes Played in 2026 FIFA World Cup by League

  1. English Premier League - 42,301
  2. Spanish La Liga - 20,327
  3. German Bundesliga - 18,803
  4. Italian Serie A - 15,882
  5. French Ligue 1 - 15,828
  6. Major League Soccer - 8,196
  7. Saudi Pro League - 7,501
  8. Turkish Super Lig - 6,112
  9. Dutch Eredivisie - 5,663
  10. English Championship - 4,574

This is MLS’s best showing at a FIFA World Cup, easily surpassing 2014’s ninth-place finish and 2022’s 10th-place finish. In the past, critics were skeptical of correlating MLS’s ranking in player minutes in the World Cup with overall league quality. After all, 2014’s minutes were fueled primarily by MLS’s heavy presence in Jurgen Klinsmann’s USMNT side. In 2022, the league’s minutes dried up as soon as the knockout rounds started, with MLS players recording only 241 minutes.

That criticism can no longer apply. The improvement of MLS players minutes on the field in 2026 during the knockout stage is simply too stark to ignore.

Minutes Played in Knockout Stages, 2026 FIFA World Cup by League

  1. English Premier League - 18,558
  2. Spanish La Liga - 10,452
  3. German Bundesliga - 6,326
  4. Italian Serie A - 6,030
  5. French Ligue 1 - 5,682
  6. Major League Soccer - 2,852
  7. Egyptian Premier League - 1,537
  8. Mexican Liga MX - 1,365
  9. Saudi Pro League - 1,315
  10. Argentine Liga - 1,232

MLS knockout minutes increased ten-fold in 2026 compared to 2022. Even when accounting for twice as many knockout matches in 2026, due to the new Round of 32, this is considerable progress! The relative size of the gap between MLS and the non-Big Five leagues underlines the impressive nature of the stat, as the sixth-place MLS logged nearly as many minutes as the seventh and eighth-place leagues combined.

The presence of that seventh-place league, the Egyptian Premier League, and to a lesser degree Mexico’s Liga MX in eighth, can raise some eyebrows.  The Egyptian Premier League minutes were almost entirely accounted for by Egypt's domestic players in their first run in the knockout stage, and a significant portion of the Liga MX minutes came from Mexico's run to the round of 16. Is this also the case for MLS? The league is a domestic league for two knockout countries, USA and Canada, after all.

It is not. You can see this by looking at the minutes played by non-domestic players in the knockout stage.

Minutes Played in Knockout Stage, non-domestic players, 2026 FIFA World Cup by League

  1. English Premier League - 15,057
  2. Spanish La Liga - 6,591
  3. Italian Serie A - 6,030
  4. German Bundesliga - 5,476
  5. French Ligue 1 - 4,734
  6. Major League Soccer - 1,981
  7. Saudi Pro League - 1,315
  8. Turkish SuperLig - 1,141
  9. Portuguese Liga - 1,020
  10. Dutch Eredivisie - 1,006

Mind you, this strips the MLS minutes from both USMNT and Canadian National Team, and the league still sits comfortably in sixth after the Big 5. This specific ranking of knockout minutes to non-domestic players, points to general strength of the league and the quality of players that domestic players compete against. The Big 5 has made up about 50% of the total minutes played at the World Cup. For non-domestic knockout minutes, the Big 5 makes about 75%.

We can also see the importance of MLS players, in the league rank of goals scored in this FIFA World Cup:

Goals Scored in 2026 FIFA World Cup Games By League

  1. English Premier League - 74 goals
  2. Spanish La Liga - 44
  3. German Bundesliga - 25
  4. French Ligue 1 - 25
  5. Italian Serie A - 21
  6. Major League Soccer - 13
  7. Saudi Pro League - 11
  8. Dutch Eredivisie - 9
  9. Egyptian Premier League - 8
  10. Turkish Super Lig - 7

This is, of course, headlined by Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi with eight goals, but also featured Vancouver Whitecaps’ Sebastian Berhalter, Portland Timbers’ Finn Surman, FC Dallas’ Petar Musa, then-Atlanta United’s Matias Galarza and then-LAFC’s Stephen Eustaquio (the latter two who scored goals as MLS players before their loans expired).

This is, by far, the best World Cup performance by MLS players on getting on the scoresheet, even when accounting for Messi’s record breaking contribution.

Most Goals Scored By MLS Players By World Cup Year

  1. 2026 - 13 goals (Messi x8, Berhalter, Surman, Musa, Galarza, Eustaquio)
  2. 2026 without Messi - 5 goals
  3. 2002 - 5 goals (McBride x2, Donovan x2, Mathis)
  4. 2014 - 4 goals (Dempsey x2, Cahill x2)
  5. 2010 - 3 goals (Donovan x3)
  6. 2022 - 2 goals (Bale, Shaqiri)
  7. 2018 - 2 goals (Vela, Watson)
  8. 2006 - 1 goal (Dempsey)
  9. 1998 - 1 goal (McBride)

After 104 games played with record-breaking viewership both here and abroad, perhaps the most impressive statistic is that more than half of the games played featured an MLS player.

Percentage of 2026 FIFA World Cup Games Featuring A Player From League

  1. English Premier League - 96%
  2. Spanish La Liga - 81%
  3. Italian Serie A - 81%
  4. French Ligue 1 - 81%
  5. German Bundesliga - 75%
  6. Major League Soccer - 51%
  7. Dutch Eredivisie - 48%
  8. Saudi Pro League - 46%
  9. Turkish Super Lig - 42%
  10. Portuguese Liga - 38%

Again, MLS stands above any other league and the only one above 50% mark outside of the Big-5.  No matter how you cut the data there’s undeniable progress here, but what does it mean for the league and the outlook of soccer in this country?

Growth In League Quality, Means Stronger Academies and Long-Term Program Growth

All of these statistics have shown the growth of the league as a whole, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a predictor of future growth if it’s not driven by homegrown academy players. The relatively strong performance of the Saudi Pro League in this World Cup, driven by buying big stars in the past, doesn’t protect it from the financial troubles it’s facing today. Heavy spending on stars without young talent development can lead toward a similar story as the Chinese Super League, which was 13th in minutes in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and finished this World Cup in 72nd place, right by the Panamanian League.

Fortunately, this was also a breakout year for minutes of MLS-developed players in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where 34 former academy products played 4,920 minutes.

Minutes Played, MLS Academy players, 2026 FIFA World Cup by Academy

  1. FC Dallas - 1,021 minutes (McKennie, Richards, Pepi, Zendejas)
  2. CF Montreal - 835 (Crepeau, Kone, Saliba, Choinere)
  3. Philadelphia Union - 627 (Freese, Trusty, Aaronson, McKenzie, Dos Santos)
  4. Red Bull New York - 427 (Adams, Weah, Etienne Jr.)
  5. Vancouver Whitecaps - 376 (Ahmed, Sigur, Davies, Elloumi)
  6. Orlando City - 374 (Freeman)
  7. New England Revolution - 230 (Bajraktarevic)
  8. New York City FC - 218 (Scally, Reyna)
  9. Chicago Fire - 198 (Gutierrez, Brady)
  10. Columbus Crew - 187 (Berhalter)
  11. Toronto FC - 176 (Shaffelburg, Promise, Nelson)
  12. Atlanta United - 112 (Deedson)
  13. Sporting Kansas City - 71 (Abu Al-Nadi)
  14. Seattle Sounders - 66 (Vargas)
  15. LA Galaxy - 2 (Wright)

This is more than double from the MLS Academy product minutes in the 2022 World Cup (1,903) and is quite impressive considering that this is mostly players from the first or second generation of the MLS Academy system that fully started less than two decades ago.

As the USMNT program drives to the next stage, it’s important to note that every program at that level has incredibly strong local talent development (with the exception of Morocco).  Let’s take a look at Belgium’s World Cup roster, which clearly showed their talent advantage in dispatching the US.  

Minutes Played, Belgium, 2026 FIFA World Cup by Pro Academy

  1. Genk - 1,916 minutes (Courtois, Trossard, Castagne, De Bruyne)
  2. Anderlecht - 1,754 (Tielemens, Raskin, Doku, Lukaku, Lukebakio, Onana, Saelemaekers, Fernandez-Pardo)
  3. Club Brugge - 1,412 (Mechele, De Cuyper, De Ketelaere, Seys, Lammens)
  4. Standard Liege - 844 (Ngoy, Theate, Meunier, Moreira, Witsel)
  5. Lommel - 319 (Vanaken)

Every single player that received minutes for Belgium has gone through their professional academy system.  And every player except for Vanaken came from their top four academies: Genk, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, and Standard Liege.  While only three of the players currently play in Belgian Jupiler League, they’re all products of their academy system and playing in a league with good talent.

I often think about Brian Schmetzer’s quote about developing players within a team of top veterans. 

“The pipeline is there, but they can’t do it by themselves, If you just throw five academy kids out there, it’s going to be tough. But if you put two or three in with Nico, Raul, Stefan, and Yeimar, then they are set up to succeed.” 

That in a nutshell is the key to MLS growth, stronger academies that produce talented young players, who then play with and against good, top players, and then eventually moving to even better leagues. The minutes that MLS players have gotten in this FIFA World Cup is proof that the league is getting better players. The minutes that MLS Academy products have gotten has shown the pipeline is growing and getting better. And that’s exactly the progress we want to see in soccer infrastructure that should yield progress in the next World Cup.

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