Why England Is The Dallas Cowboys Of The 2026 World Cup

England opened its 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with a strong 4-2 win over Croatia on Wednesday at Dallas Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. But that's far from the only thing that connects the two historic teams — at least according to former Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

The Leicester City legend and current FOX Sports analyst made the comparison between the Cowboys and Three Lions ahead of England's 4-2 win over Croatia.

"We’re in the Dallas Cowboys' stadium. I’ll liken England to the Dallas Cowboys a little bit," Schmeichel said ahead of the England vs. Croatia game. "A massive team with so much talent, but they’ve won it once and have never stopped talking about it."

England won its lone World Cup in 1966, at the eighth edition of the tournament. Since then, the furthest it has advanced at the tournament is the semifinals, most recently finishing fourth at Russia 2018 after a 2-0 loss to Belgium in the bronze-medal match.

While the Cowboys have a richer history of success with five total Super Bowl trophies, their most recent one was won in 1996, 30 years ago. Since then, Dallas has yet to appear in a Super Bowl, let alone an NFC Championship game.

Similarly, England and the Cowboys have similar reputations in their "division." While England is a strong favorite to win the tournament, in addition to Spain and France, its Group L counterpart Croatia's past World Cup results suggest it's not far off from making a run. Croatia finished as runner-ups in 2018 and third place in 2022.

The Cowboys finished the 2025 regular season with a much better record than the Commanders (5-12) and Giants (4-13), but the Eagles took home a second consecutive NFC East title and clinched an NFL playoff spot over Dallas. 

All that being said, England’s recent tournament history suggests they’re capable of winning it all. The Three Lions reached the final in back-to-back Euro tournaments in 2020 and 2024, although finishing as the runner-up in both tournaments. This World Cup marks England's 18th tournament appearance, and they have the third-best odds to win the World Cup at +600.