Ranking the best British football exports of the 21st century
BBC Sport published on 2026-10-01 a top-10 list on its website ranking the best British football exports since the turn of the century, outlining achievements and career highlights for each selection.
The piece opens by recalling earlier British pioneers such as Paul Gascoigne, John Charles, Kevin Keegan and Glenn Hoddle, then notes a modern shift with an increasing number of British players moving overseas. It reports that eight members of England's most recent World Cup squad are currently playing abroad — "from Munich to Madrid, and Milan to the Middle East" — and that Scotland have even more players overseas, predominantly in Serie A. The author says this week’s feature ranks the top 10 and invites readers to respond in the comments.
At 10, Kieran Trippier is credited with reviving his career under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid, becoming the club's first English player in almost a century and winning a La Liga title — the first trophy of his career — before returning to the Premier League for a successful spell at Newcastle. At 9, Fikayo Tomori is listed for lifting the Scudetto with AC Milan in 2021-22, earning a place in the Serie A team of the season and entering his seventh season with Milan as a 28-year-old. Ranked 8, Jadon Sancho is acknowledged for his four seasons at Borussia Dortmund, his £73m move to Manchester United, and his Dortmund record of 50 goals and 64 assists in 137 games, including 12 goals and 18 assists in his second season and 17 goals in the following campaign; he also won a German Cup and finished runner-up in both the European Golden Boy prize and the Kopa Trophy, before returning to England on loan in 2023-24.
David Beckham occupies 7 after four seasons at Real Madrid where he collected a sole La Liga crown in 2007, followed by a high-profile move to LA Galaxy that produced two MLS Cups and two Supporters' Shields; the entry also notes loan spells in Milan and a five-month stay in Paris that ended with a Ligue 1 winner's medal in 2013. At 6, Scott McTominay is credited with becoming a Napoli cult figure since joining in 2024, scoring 12 goals from midfield in his debut Serie A season to help Napoli to a fourth Scudetto in the club's history and claiming the league's MVP award, with the club finishing runners-up the following term. Owen Hargreaves is placed at 5, described as born in Calgary to a Welsh mother and English father, a player who won 42 England caps and enjoyed seven seasons at Bayern Munich where he won four Bundesliga titles and several German Cups, and who played 120 minutes alongside Stefan Effenberg as Bayern beat Valencia on penalties in the 2001 European Cup final.
Jude Bellingham is listed at 4 after three seasons at Borussia Dortmund and a subsequent move to Real Madrid for more than £100m, scoring 23 goals as Madrid won La Liga and the Champions League and finishing third in the Ballon d'Or; the piece also recalls he was Dortmund's youngest ever goalscorer and the youngest English player to start a Champions League match. Harry Kane is ranked 3 on the strength of his goalscoring record at Bayern Munich — 101 Bundesliga goals in 98 games and 152 goals in 154 appearances overall — winning the European Golden Shoe in his debut Bundesliga season (the first Englishman since Kevin Phillips to do so), becoming the fastest player in Bundesliga history to reach 100 goals, and collecting two Bundesliga titles and a German Cup. Steven McManaman is placed at 2 for his four-season spell at Real Madrid after leaving Liverpool in 1999, scoring a volley in the 2000 Champions League final, coming off the bench to collect a second winners' medal in 2002, adding two La Liga titles and finishing his England career with 37 caps, the last of which came before his second Champions League success despite pleas from club team-mates such as Zinedine Zidane for a recall.
Gareth Bale tops the list at 1 for his nine-year spell at Real Madrid that yielded five Champions League winner's medals, 106 goals in 258 games and three goals in Champions League finals including an overhead kick in 2018; the entry notes that his commitment to Los Blancos was sometimes questioned, and records a later short stint in Los Angeles that produced a Supporters' Shield and an MLS Cup in which he scored a last-gasp leveller before LAFC won on penalties.
The author concludes by reiterating the top-10 ranking and inviting readers to "have your say in the comments, too."
