
As the Premier League competition heats up in 2017-18 between some of the biggest clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United – so are their rosters. With quite a few players who could double as supermodels, and would have supporters swiping right if their photos popped up on Tinder, English soccer is now attractive on multiple levels.
While fans know they can count on players like Manchester City’s Argentinian striker Sergio Agüero and Tottenham Hotspur’s English forward Harry Kane to bang in the goals, are they as attractive to supporters as they are in the six-yard box? We surveyed nearly 900 people from 50 countries to see whom they considered hot or not in the Premier League. Read on to see which teams and players rose to the top of this table.
Burning Up the Pitch

Spanish goalkeeper Adrián was ranked the most attractive player in the Premier League. While he may be sitting idle on the bench in the 2017-18 season – becoming West Ham’s second choice after they acquired English international Joe Hart – it certainly gives him plenty of chances to be seen. With his tall, athletic build, chiseled jawline, and piercing blue eyes, you might be hard-pressed not to notice Adrián, even when he isn’t front and center during a match.
Half of the top six were English-born players, including Tottenham Hotspur Harry Winks. A player for the Central London club who hasn’t yet stepped out of the shadows of Arsenal or Chelsea, the 21-year-old midfielder has earned manager Mauricio Pochettino’s trust and fans’ hearts. His seemingly permanent windswept locks and somewhat devilish grin could be the leading stats for landing one of the top spots for the most attractive players in the Premier League. Everton’s Ademola Lookman and Huddersfield Town’s Jonathan Hogg, both forwards, were two more examples of English heartthrobs in the top six.
Best in the Box

Although midfielders may have a lower ceiling for their most attractive players, they tied with defenders for the most attractive position on average. Forwards came in third, and goalkeepers scored as the least sexy position, despite having attractive all-star Adrián top their rankings.
Of the top 10 most attractive goalkeepers, four were English international players: Everton’s Jordan Pickford, Stoke City’s Jack Butland, and West Bromwich Albion’s Alex Palmer and Ben Foster. Other nationalities that managed to make it into the top 10 were Belgian shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois – who plays for the reigning Premier League champions, Chelsea – and Bournemouth’s Bosnian keeper Asmir Begović.
The Hottest Team in the League

West Ham United came out on top as the hottest team of players in Premier League. They may have just squeezed by Watford, who play their football just 30 miles away from the London-based club. With Watford on 15 points for the season and West Ham United on nine, fans of these two clubs could be wishing their players’ football performances were as attractive as their looks.
The league’s current top side, Manchester City, couldn’t stray far away from their crosstown rivals, Manchester United, with both sides averaging an attractiveness rating of 5.21 out of 10. While their players may rate at equal levels of attractiveness, City’s football has been far more attractive than United’s in 2017-18. The Cityzens have celebrated 10 out of 11 games and 31 goals so far, compared to United’s seven wins, two draws, and two losses.
Captivating Their Audience

When it comes to the most attractive players on each squad, every one of the 20 Premier League clubs had a clear favorite. But only one, Arsenal, had two players who were rated a six or higher. Charlie Gilmour (Scottish) and Eddie Nketiah (English) were both rated a six or greater, according to people polled around the world. This outpaced the third most attractive Gunner, French international Alexandre Lacazette, who is adapting to his first season in the Premier League.
AFC Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Stoke City, Swansea City, and West Bromwich Albion didn’t have a single player rated higher than a six on our scale, accounting for 50 percent of the teams in the Premier League. For clubs failing to register their players as both easy on the eyes and deadly on the pitch, this could be an important trait to consider as they draw up a list of targets for the next transfer window.
An International Melting Pot

When it comes to finding the most talented (or good-looking) players to fill their ranks, no country or nationality is off limits in the Premier League. With an amazingly diverse cross section of some of the most talented football players in the world, respondents said the most attractive players came from 10 countries. Of those earning the highest marks for alluring and sometimes glamorous players, four of the 10 most attractive nationalities in the Premier League were African. The most attractive players were from Senegal, a nation of over 13 million residents. Popular Senegalese players (but not always the most attractive) include Liverpool’s Sadio Mané, West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyaté, and Everton’s Idrissa Gueye. Other African countries landing in the top 10 slots were Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria.
Serbian, Bosnian, and Belgian players rounded out the top five most attractive nationalities in the Premier League, including some who were considered the most attractive for their clubs. Manchester United’s Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matić and Chelsea’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois both earned the highest accolades for their athletic yet graceful appearance. Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begović couldn’t claim the top spot in his club, AFC Bournemouth, but he was still a runner-up to English defender Adam Smith.
Misguided Allegiances

Given the competitive nature of sports and the Premier League, would fans of the top six biggest clubs want to be called out for saying another team’s players are more attractive than their own? Well, we have the answers!
Some unfortunate results revealed Arsenal supporters found their players the least attractive among the 20 sides. They might not be happy to learn their supporters found rival squads like Chelsea and Tottenham more attractive. Tottenham supporters could feel ill, too, after learning their fans saw Arsenal players with doe-eyes. Manchester United supporters looked more favorably on only one other club above their own, Everton. They’ll also enjoy seeing Manchester City fans felt the same way, rating United’s squad as the most attractive lot.
Hot, Hot Football
While many die-hard supporters won’t care if a player or team is the most attractive on the pitch, a little bit of banter always makes for some fun. If your favorite team is hotter than a furnace or colder than an igloo, keep engaged with the Premier League and all sports with SportsPundit.com.
Methodology
We compiled the headshots of all active Premier League players as of Oct. 30, 2017. Total active players equaled 569 headshots for survey review.
Respondents were asked to review the headshots and rank the players’ attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the most attractive). We submitted the headshots only for review; we omitted the players’ names, positions, nationalities, and teams.
Respondents were allowed to rank as many headshots as they wished. We stopped collecting responses when each image had been ranked at least 30 times by 30 unique respondents. In some cases, the headshot photos could not be found in the original source, so photos of the players were cultivated from other sources, as near to their counterparts as possible. To determine the most attractive nationalities we excluded nations with fewer than 3 players.
A total of 878 participants completed the survey from 50 countries. There was not an even distribution of the nationalities of participants rating each player, nor of the players from each team. We used the average scores to come up with the most attractive players in the Premier League as well as the most attractive teams, positions, and nationalities.
A link to the photos can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C9TU0w70WhgiV2GOlqf5aFouBzYiPq2nIdi6uz3hXxY/edit#gid=0
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