Port Vale fans will be looking to forget the recent league season after getting relegated to League Two by turning their attention to the upcoming World Cup this summer. Some will even travel over to Mexico, Canada, and the US to take in the action and follow England as they try to end their long-running trophy drought.
The club has been a part of English football for 150 years and while it’s perhaps a million miles removed from the biggest tournament in world sport that will kick off next month there are still connections. While there’s only one current Port Vale player participating in the competition, there are also some other players who got very close to representing their countries in the upcoming tournament.
Tournament Favourites
Before diving into the people with Port Vale connections, it’s useful to take a quick scan of the current World Cup odds to see where England ranks in the reckoning. Spain are generally the favourites with bookmakers, closely followed by England and France.
Despite being the defending champions, Argentina are distant fourth in the rankings, with an ageing Lionel Messi and the difficulty of securing back-to-back World Cup titles being the main reasons. There hasn’t been a nation that has retained the World Cup since Brazil managed the feat in 1962.
Brazil are fifth in the general bookmakers rankings, with the best of the rest including Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands. As the first World Cup with 48 teams, there will likely be some shocks along the way that nobody expected. Some of the dark horses getting attention from punters include Belgium, Morocco and Croatia.
Liam Gordon and the Guyana Dream
One indirect connection to the 2026 World Cup is defender Liam Gordon. The 26-year-old left back joined Port Vale from Walsall last summer on a two-year contract and he has earned 28 caps for Guyana. While they didn’t ultimately qualify for the finals, they were part of the CONCACAF qualification campaign.
Port Vale fans were able to watch him bomb down the wing against the likes of Panama and Jamaica in the qualifiers. While he was born in England, Gordon was eligible through his family and was a firm fixture in the squad as it attempted to get to the World Cup.
Ben Waine and the All Whites
Another current Port Vale player with international pedigree is Ben Waine. The New Zealand forward joined in summer 2025 from Plymouth Argyle and has earned 30 caps for his country since 2022. New Zealand are going to the 2026 World Cup and Waine has a place in the squad. The All Whites secured automatic qualification for their first appearance at the finals since 2010, when Ricki Herbert’s team famously drew all group games in South Africa and remained undefeated.
Waine’s a young prospect who scored three goals in League One this season and got several key goals during the FA Cup run, including in the 1-0 victory over Sunderland. He’s the type of exciting young player that New Zealand management will look at introducing in their group games
His selection will depend on the form of others, but the fact that he’s in the conversation is a big deal for a club like Port Vale. Having a current player at the World Cup would be an impressive feat for the Valiants. While several players have gone to World Cups after leaving the club, Waine will join Chris Birchall as being the second player to feature at the finals while on Vale’s books.
Why the World Cup Matters
The harsh reality is that Port Vale lies a level or two below the World Cup ecosystem. However, the modern game has a way of throwing up unexpected paths. A loan move or a sustained surge in form can catapult a player from the lower leagues of English football into the big time. That’s the ambition for many of the younger players at Vale Park who can look at the examples of Waine and Gordon and ask why they can’t follow in their footsteps and compete on the international stage.
The 2026 World Cup opens the doors to the possibility of smaller clubs getting more representation, as it’s the first time that 48 teams are taking part. That means some nations like Curaçao, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan and Jordan, which have never appeared at a World Cup before, will be featuring at this summer’s tournament. This makes it easier now to get into the biggest event in sport.
Time difference won’t be a major difference this time around. Most of the games will take place in the evening in UK time, which isn’t too bad compared to previous World Cups, like the late finishes in Qatar in 2022 or the early mornings of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Vale Park isn’t hosting any special events for the tournament, but there will be a great buzz in Burslem and the wider Stoke-on-Trent area whenever England play.
Could Vale Players Ever Feature at future World Cups?
There is always the chance that a Vale player could feature at a World Cup in the future and follow in the footsteps of Chris Birchall and Ben Waine The likes of Jamie Vardy have shown how someone can go from non-league football to international stardom with England within the space of a few years. If Waine does catch the eye this summer, there will be a great story for fans who will otherwise be cheering on England in their effort to bring back the World Cup trophy for the first time since 1966.
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