With 154 players dispatched to the 2026 tournament and just 33 days between the final whistle and opening weekend, clubs face a brutal pre-season crunch. The 2026 FIFA World Cup wrapped up across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. That’s just 33 days after the World Cup final. The numbers behind the squeezePremier League clubs contributed 154 players to national teams at the World Cup. A player who features in the World Cup final on July 19 gets his mandated break, returns to training around August 9, and then has less than two weeks before the Premier League opener.