The next destination of our alphabetical world tour is England. Though football didn’t come home in 2018, the football we have at home is pretty good anyway. Whether you believe the Premier League is the best in the world or not, it has become one of the pinnacles of the game, with audiences and players from all across the globe.
Unsurprisingly, England have produced more Premier League players than any other country. According to the Premier League website, 1572 players have represented England in the Premier League.
First Player – Several
388 Englishmen featured in the inaugural Premier League season, several of whom started on the opening day on August 15th, 1992. The first-ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane, who opened the scoring after five minutes in Sheffield United’s 2-1 win over Manchester United.
Most Appearances: Gareth Barry – 653 (Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton, West Brom; 1997-2018)
A mainstay for 20 years in the Premier League with four clubs, Gareth Barry’s 652 appearances are the most of any player in the competition’s history.
Capable as a box-to-box midfielder, Barry was usually deployed in a deep-lying role, where he was particularly effective at breaking up play and starting attacks. He won the 2011/12 Premier League title and 2010/11 FA Cup with Manchester City as well as the 2000/01 Intertoto Cup with Aston Villa. Barry passed Ryan Giggs’ previous appearance record in his first season at West Brom in 2017/18.
Top Scorer: Alan Shearer – 260 (Blackburn, Newcastle; 1992-2006)
The greatest striker in the Premier League era? While greatness is hard to judge, goals remain easy to quantify and Alan Shearer’s 260 in the Premier League remains the highest of any player, let alone Englishmen.
His record is made more impressive by the fact that he also scored 23 goals before the renaming of the Premier League in 1992 and suffered several season-ravaging injuries.
Shearer retired in 2006 at the age of 35 after becoming Newcastle’s all-time top scorer. He won 63 caps for England; scoring 30 goals, and won the 1994/95 Premier League title with Blackburn, the only major team honour of his career.
Current Players
A host of players appeared in last seasons Premier League with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy winning the Golden Boot with 23 goals.
Trivia
- Marcus Bent has played for eight clubs in the Premier League, more than any other player (Crystal Palace, Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Everton, Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic & Wolverhampton Wanderers).
- Five of the nine Englishmen with 100 or more international caps played in the Premier League era – Wayne Rooney (120 caps), David Beckham (115), Steven Gerrard (114), Ashley Cole (107) and Frank Lampard (106).
- Since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, only three players have scored a tournament goal for England while at a club outside the Premier League – Paul Gascoigne (Euro 1996/Rangers), Steve McManaman (Euro 2000/Real Madrid) and David Beckham (2006 World Cup/Real Madrid).
- Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott was the youngest player ever to appear in the Premier League; aged 16 years and 30 days on his Fulham league debut in May 2019.
- No English manager has ever won the Premier League.
