The 2026-27 European season is right around the corner. Actually, scratch that: The 2026-27 European season began weeks ago, with Champions League qualifiers in full flow and domestic leagues in Scotland, Austria, Croatia and more getting underway.
But very soon, Europe's major leagues will also get going, and that's a scary thought for some of its top teams, because many are still coming to terms with how the biggest-ever World Cup has affected their preparations for the campaign ahead.
A handful of weeks out from their big kickoffs, many of the world's best players are still (rightfully) on holiday. Some clubs are still missing up to half their squads. There are big question marks over the short- and medium-term health of stars such as Declan Rice and Frenkie de Jong.
Fans are understandably fretting about this, so we decided to run the numbers and see who, among Europe's top clubs, looks set to be affected the most by what happened at the World Cup. To do this, we enlisted the help of a Head of Sports Science at a Champions League club, who flagged up a number of things they'd be looking for and concerned about.