| Updated: Not one or two managers have voiced concerns about the long football season and the congested calendar in recent years, and the Premier League is often at the centre of that debate because of its domestic intensity and the extra match load created by European competition and international breaks. With the 2026 World Cup now just four months away, the stakes are even higher, because national-team coaches are about to inherit players whose legs have already been pushed deep into the red zone. The question is no longer whether the schedule is demanding, but which players are bearing the heaviest burden in actual minutes on the pitch.
It is also no surprise that every player in this ranking performs for a club involved in European competition. Major clubs like Manchester United are not represented: not because of a lack of quality, but because their key players have simply not accumulated the same multi-front match volume.
To quantify the strain, Sportingpedia analysed the Premier League players with the most total game time across club and international football by combining their club minutes and national-team minutes, alongside their total match counts. The numbers show Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk is at the top of the ranking, having logged 3,780 minutes across 42 matches for club and country, narrowly ahead of teammate Dominik Szoboszlai on 3,578 minutes in 40 matches.
Premier League Footballers with the Most Minutes Played for Club & Country in 2025/26 Season
Data Source: Transfermarkt
The top of the table is defined by Liverpool’s reliance on Virgil Van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai. Van Dijk’s 3,780 minutes come from 3,240 at club level and another 540 for the Netherlands, while Szoboszlai combines 3,038 minutes for Liverpool with 540 for Hungary. Both sit above the rest of the group not because they are the only ever-present players, but because they combine heavy club workloads with consistent international involvement.
What makes Van Dijk’s workload particularly eye-catching is that it is not just “a lot of minutes” – it is perfect continuity. His total is 3,780 minutes across 42 appearances, which means he plays a full match every time he features in this dataset. Maxence Lacroix of Crystal Palace is the only other player in the top 15 with the same profile: 3,330 minutes across 37 matches, all at club level, which also indicates he plays every minute whenever he appears.
Manchester City’s presence is split between a recent defensive addition and their headline striker. Marc Guehi appears third overall with 3,446 minutes across 40 matches, driven by 3,192 club minutes and another 254 for England. However, Guehi’s accumulated playing time has largely come at Crystal Palace, as he has only recently joined Manchester City, meaning the bulk of his club minutes were logged before the move. Erling Haaland sits sixth on 3,324 minutes across 42 matches after combining 2,920 minutes for City with 404 for Norway. Their numbers highlight how even within a squad built for rotation, certain players still accumulate minutes at a rate similar to the league’s most heavily leaned-on figures.
The next cluster is shaped by players who sit in the 3,300-minute band, where a handful of players are separated by only a few dozen minutes. Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle reaches 3,349 minutes in 41 matches after adding 466 international minutes for Brazil to his 2,883 for Newcastle. Nikola Milenkovic of Nottingham Forest posts 3,321 minutes across 38 matches, with 342 of those minutes coming for Serbia, while Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa sits on 3,229 minutes across 42 matches after logging 313 minutes for England on top of 2,916 at club level.
One of the clearest insights from the dataset is how high a player can climb without any international minutes at all. Maxence Lacroix of Crystal Palace sits fifth overall on 3,330 minutes, all of it coming at club level across 37 matches. In raw club time, he is again the heaviest-used player in the entire top 15, posting 3,330 club minutes – higher than Virgil Van Dijk of Liverpool (3,240) and Marc Guehi (3,192).
Premier League Footballers with the Most Matches for Club & Country in 2025/26 Season
Data Source: Transfermarkt
Nottingham Forest place two players in the top 15, with Milenkovic joined by Elliot Anderson on 3,140 minutes across 38 matches. Anderson’s total is shaped by 2,701 club minutes and another 439 for England, reinforcing how heavy-minute profiles are not restricted to the title race.
Arsenal also feature heavily, placing three players in the top 15. Martin Zubimendi totals 3,171 minutes across 39 matches, combining 2,802 club minutes with 369 for Spain, while Declan Rice records 3,071 minutes in 41 matches after adding 405 international minutes to his 2,666 for Arsenal. Jurrien Timber sits just one minute behind Rice on 3,070 minutes across 40 matches, built from 2,736 club minutes and 334 for the Netherlands. That Arsenal trio is one of the clearest examples of how a team competing on multiple fronts can still have a small core that accumulates minutes at near-elite levels.
Aston Villa are one of the other clubs with heavy representation, placing two players in the top 15. Morgan Rogers leads their presence, while Ezri Konsa totals 3,194 minutes across 38 matches, split between 2,820 club minutes and 374 for England. Chelsea appear through Enzo Fernandez, who ranks 12th with 3,124 minutes across 39 matches. His total is driven overwhelmingly by club usage (3,046 minutes), with only 78 international minutes for Argentina included in this dataset.
The list is rounded out by Rayan Gravenberch of Liverpool on 3,053 minutes across 36 matches, built from 2,739 club minutes and 314 for the Netherlands. His inclusion means Liverpool place three players in the top 15, matching Arsenal and reinforcing how the league’s most intense schedules tend to produce the largest clusters of heavy-minute players.
Nationality patterns: England’s cluster, the Netherlands as the strongest non-English presence
One of the most revealing angles in the top 15 is how country representation narrows at the very top end of Premier League workloads. Five of the 15 players are England internationals – Marc Guehi of Manchester City, Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa, Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa, Elliot Anderson of Nottingham Forest, and Declan Rice of Arsenal – while the Netherlands place three players through Virgil Van Dijk of Liverpool, Jurrien Timber of Arsenal, and Rayan Gravenberch of Liverpool. No other nation has more than one representative, with Hungary (Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool), Norway (Erling Haaland of Manchester City), Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle), France (Maxence Lacroix of Crystal Palace), Serbia (Nikola Milenkovic of Nottingham Forest), Spain (Martin Zubimendi of Arsenal) and Argentina (Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea) all appearing once.
With the 2026 World Cup only four months away, that distribution is particularly relevant. England’s player pool supplies by far the biggest share of the Premier League’s heaviest-used names in this dataset, meaning a large part of their squad is heading into the final run-up having already accumulated extreme club-and-country workloads.