With only a few months left for the start of the 2026 World Cup, fans have been speculating on England’s chances to win the tournament and finally put an end to a 60-year drought. While fans speculate based on the latest stats on sites like GemBet, they are also pondering which players will ultimately represent the nation at the most important football tournament.
Among the Arsenal squad, names like Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze constantly come up in World Cup discussions. In what follows, we break down the experience of these and other key Hale End figures playing for the England squad, as well as what they bring to the table.
Bukayo Saka
Despite his age, Bukayo Saka has had plenty of experience representing England at the international stage. The Arsenal right-winger made its debut at only 19 in a 3-0 victory against Wales. After playing a total of four times for the squad, Saka became officially linked to England, ending his eligibility to represent Nigeria, his parents’ country of birth.
In 2021, Saka scored his first-ever goal for the Three Lions during a 1-0 friendly match against Austria. Another huge moment would come at Euro 2020 (delayed due to COVID-19), a tournament in which the Suad reached the final but ultimately lost to Italy in a penalty shootout. Saka made it to the 2022 World Cup, where he proved to be a key asset. In Qatar, the young right-winger scored 3 goals: 2 against Iran and 1 against Senegal. Ultimately, the team endured a painful 2-1 quarter-final loss to runner-ups France.
Declan Rice
After pledging his future to England, Declan Rice has been a valuable player. In Euro 2020, the defensive midfielder, considered one of the best in the world, played in all seven matches. Later, in the 2022 World Cup, he also contributed significantly to the team’s trajectory towards the quarter-finals.
In 2024, to mark his 50th senior cap, Rice was named captain of the National team in a match against Belgium. Now a vice-captain for Thomas Tuchel’s squad, Rice goes to the 2026 World Cup with a sharp determination to triumph. “We want to win it,” the 27-year-old said in an interview with the Daily Mail. He added,
That’s going to be a bold statement but we’re England and we have world-class players all over the pitch. If we didn’t think like that, I think that would be a weak mentality from us. We all want to win the World Cup, we’d all love that, to get our hands on that in our career. You see so many of the best players in the world, they’ve won that in the past, and what it meant to them. There’s a long way to go and it’s just about building to that moment.
Eberechi Eze
Eberechi Eze’s participation in the 2026 World Cup has also been widely discussed recently. The 27-year-old attacking midfielder got his first call-up for Euro 2020. However, a serious Achilles injury prevented his participation in the tournament. And, while there was a lot of media speculation regarding Eze being a “wildcard” pick for Qatar 2022, he wasn’t selected by Southgate.
Eze’s first cap eventually came in 2023, as a 70th-minute substitute in a 4-0 victory over Malta. In later years, he continued to accumulate experience through his participation in Euro 2024, for example. Most recently, the Greenwich-born player scored his first goal for England during a 3-0 World Cup qualifying Match against Latvia. Even so, commentators such as Jamie O’Hara have cast doubt about his participation in the tournament, citing concerns over Eze’s struggles to adapt to Arteta’s highly demanding system at Arsenal.
Ben White
White’s very first call-up to the Three Lions came in the summer of 2021. He joined the provisional 33-man squad to dispute the UEFA Euro 2020. The defender officially debuted in the match against Austria, where England emerged victorious 1-0. During the match, White proved to be a valuable asset to the team by clearing a shot from Alessandro Schöpf off the line, preventing a late leveller. Yet throughout the tournament, the Poole-born player remained mostly an unused substitute.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup seemed like a brilliant opportunity for White to contribute to the national team as a member of the 26-man squad selected by Gareth Southgate. However, the defender didn’t play a single minute, leaving the Qatar base early. While the Arsenal player cited “personal reasons”, some reports pointed to a disagreement with Southgate’s assistant, Steve Holland.
In the upcoming years, White was absent from England matches in what has been described as a “self-imposed exile”, despite Southgate claiming “the door was wide open” for him to go back. As such, while there might be a possibility for White to make it to the roster, his lack of experience in the squad is worth considering.