Ranking the teams at the 2026 World Cup

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It is nearly here. It feels like the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America has been in the planning stages for centuries, such is all the drama that has already taken place before a ball has been kicked.

But it is upon us. It would be too much to say the controversies about ticket prices, visas, extortionate train fares and literal wars will fade away once it gets started on June 11, but we will at least have some football to watch alongside them.

The 48 teams that have qualified for the tournament all go into it with different priorities and different levels of expectation. Here, we have ranked all 48 from best to worst, as things stand — or rather, we’ve re-ranked them, making adjustments from the last time we undertook this endeavour in April, when all the qualifiers were confirmed, to take into account managerial changes, key injuries and any other factors that might have impacted those teams.

Read on, and tell us where you think we’ve gone wrong…

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1. Spain

FIFA ranking: 1

Our ranking in April: 1

When it comes to most people’s favourites to lift the World Cup, it’s a toss of a coin to separate Spain and France, who look to have the strongest XIs on paper. Spain’s only issue appears to be over the fitness of Lamine Yamal, but it seems as though he’ll feature during the group stage. In theory, the Euro 2024 winners, with their array of young, attacking talent, may even have room for improvement from two years ago.

2. France

FIFA ranking: 3
Our ranking in April: 3

Think of it this way: at least one of Kylian Mbappe, Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki won’t be in France’s first-choice team. The depth of their attacking options is incredible, and while other elements of their team don’t look quite as strong, they have so many options going forwards that they will be difficult to stop.

3. Argentina

FIFA ranking: 2

Our ranking in April: 2

The reigning champions from Qatar in 2022, who also won back-to-back Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024, have the same manager in Lionel Scaloni and the same GOAT in Lionel Messi, albeit the latter is getting on a bit and will turn 39 during the tournament. Argentina have the quality and the experience to retain their crown, but do they have the desire?

4. Brazil

FIFA ranking: 5
Our ranking in April: 4

The big debate around the Brazil squad was the inclusion of Neymar, which felt like a bit of a sideshow and it masked the fact the rest of Carlo Ancelotti’s selection looks extremely strong. There are a couple of questions at full-back, but under a man who both exudes calm and is an expert in guiding groups of wayward superstars to glory, Brazil have a great chance.

5. England

FIFA ranking: 4

Our ranking in April: 6

Having the luxury of being able to leave the likes of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer out of his squad underlines just how much talent Thomas Tuchel has at his disposal, while the form of strikers Harry Kane (successive hat-tricks to end the season) and Ollie Watkins (six goals in five games) also bodes well. As ever with England, their success or otherwise will be defined by whether they can carry their individual club form onto the international stage.

6. Germany

FIFA ranking: 10

Our ranking in April: 8

The big story from Germany’s squad announcement was the return of Manuel Neuer, and while these big comebacks sometimes don’t go to plan, it’s enough to bump them up a couple of places in our ranking. Also, the array of attacking talent (even if, as has become customary for Germany, centre-forward is a question mark) and a relatively friendly group draw mean they must be considered strong contenders.

7. Netherlands

FIFA ranking: 7

Our ranking in April: 5

They drop down a couple of spots owing to missing the injured Xavi Simons, who suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while playing for Tottenham Hotspur in April. Simons’ ability to win any match will be missed, but the Dutch still possess a healthy gaggle of very, very good (if not quite top world-class tier) footballers and should go deep in the tournament if Ronald Koeman can knit it all together.

8. Portugal

FIFA ranking: 6

Our ranking in April: 7

As ever, the conversation around Portugal will be focused on you know who: Cristiano Ronaldo should in theory be suspended for the first two games of the tournament, but his magical reprieve means he will almost certainly start, but will he finally make a mark on a World Cup, having never before scored a knockout goal at one?

9. Colombia

FIFA ranking: 14

Our ranking in April: 9

The 2024 Copa America finalists finished third in South American qualifying but go to the tournament with high hopes, led by talisman James Rodriguez in what will probably be his last World Cup. Ahead of him, Jhon Arias and Richard Rios are key players but in Luis Diaz, one-third of the most prolific attack in Europe at Bayern Munich, Colombia possess someone who could be one of the tournament’s standout players. They won’t be dull.

10. Croatia

FIFA ranking: 11

Our ranking in April: 10

If this ranking was being compiled a month or so ago, Croatia might have slipped down a few places due to injury concerns around a couple of key players. But both Luka Modric and Josko Gvardiol appear to be fit and ready to go, so it’s difficult to ignore their recent tournament pedigree, with the experienced core of their team supplemented by a couple of very promising youngsters.

11. Uruguay

FIFA ranking: 17

Our ranking in April: 12

Well, they haven’t won in four matches, a run that included a 5-1 trouncing by the United States last November (admittedly without key players) and, while a 1-1 draw against England at Wembley in March was notable, a 0-0 draw against Algeria a few days later was less welcome. They have no form, and no Luis Suarez (he was snubbed despite saying he would come out of international retirement), but they do have Marcelo Bielsa and Federico Valverde. Swings and roundabouts.

12. Morocco

FIFA ranking: 8

Our ranking in April: 11

It’s not exactly unheard of for a team to change coaches in the months before a World Cup, but it doesn’t often spell success at the tournament: Mohamed Ouahbi will only have a handful of games under his belt by the time of their first game, after replacing Walid Regragui, so mainly for that reason, along with a couple of controversial squad selections, they drop a place in our rankings.

13. Senegal

FIFA ranking: 12

Our ranking in April: 14

Senegal have decent World Cup pedigree, having twice reached the knockout stage (2002 quarter-finalists, round of 16 in 2022) and you would expect the same again this time from a team familiar to Premier League viewers (including Sadio Mane, Nicolas Jackson, Iliman Ndiaye, Pape Matar Sarr and Ismaila Sarr). They also won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) fairly recently. Or did they? Anyway, they’ve got a good team and could put a few noses out of joint.

14. Egypt

FIFA ranking: 31

Our ranking in April: 15

It’s still all about Mohamed Salah. This is probably his last chance to fix Egypt’s weirdly terrible World Cup record (they’ve only previously qualified once this century, in which time they’ve won AFCON three times), and at least he’s going into this one in decent physical shape, having been unfit in 2018. He may have a more convincing supporting cast than in 2018, too.

15. South Korea

FIFA ranking: 22

Our ranking in April: 16

Not in South Korea’s favour; a few of their players ended last season either out of form, or injured, or just not really playing. Son Heung-min was the former, with only two goals in 21 matches at LAFC, while key midfielder Hwang In-beom was injured and Lee Kang-in didn’t kick a ball in any of Paris Saint-Germain’s final four Champions League matches. In South Korea’s favour; they warmed up with a 5-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago last week with Son scoring twice and Hwang returning from injury, plus they have a great group draw alongside Mexico, South Africa and potentially the weakest team from the European play-offs, Czech Republic, in Group A.

16. Belgium

FIFA ranking: 9

Our ranking in April: 13

It was quite startling when, while naming the Belgian squad for this tournament, Rudi Garcia admitted that Romelu Lukaku was “out of shape”, but picked him anyway. Fitness seems to be the big question mark over this team, with Kevin De Bruyne also having spent much of the club season out injured, which is why they have slipped a few places in our rankings.

17. Ecuador

FIFA ranking: 23

Our ranking in April: 17

They should be hard to beat, having conceded only five goals in 18 qualifiers (also only scoring 14, yawn) with Champions League finalists Willian Pacho and Piero Hincapie key to that record. Having finished second behind Argentina in qualifying, ahead of Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia, they head to the tournament confident of reaching the World Cup knockout stage for only the second time, especially given their group contains Ivory Coast and Curacao (as well as Germany). Beyond that? If their defensive record holds up, they could squeeze past anyone.

18. Norway

FIFA ranking: 32

Our ranking in April: 19

This tournament’s most noted ‘dark horse’, Norway won all eight of their qualification games and come into the tournament with a battery of attacking options, with Jorgen Strand Larsen and Alexander Sorloth providing back-up to Erling Haaland. One small question mark might be the form of captain Martin Odegaard, who has endured a tricky season for Arsenal, although some promising performances at the end of the campaign might give them hope.

19. Mexico

FIFA ranking: 16

Our ranking in April: 18

Having been dumped out of the group stage in 2022 (ending a run of seven consecutive last-16 exits), there would be huge pressure on Mexico anyway, but throw in a home World Cup and expectations are lofty. Can they deliver? Well, their cause wasn’t helped by captain Edson Alvarez missing most of 2026 so far through injury, but he has returned just in time. With wonderkid Gilberto Mora, talismanic striker Raul Jimenez and home advantage, they could thrive.

20. Ivory Coast

FIFA ranking: 37

Our ranking in April: 20

Unbeaten in qualifying, Ivory Coast’s record at the World Cup isn’t great, but they have the players to make it out of the group stage for the first time. RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande will be one of the most exciting young players to watch at the tournament, and you can expect him to be a staple of the transfer gossip pages this summer too.

21. Switzerland

FIFA ranking: 18

Our ranking in April: 22

In Switzerland’s sixth consecutive World Cup appearance, is there anything to suggest they can go further than the last 16, the round they’ve got to in four of the past five tournaments? Well, they went unbeaten in 2025 (10 games), beating Mexico and the United States along the way, and with a settled team featuring the likes of Breel Embolo, Ricardo Rodriguez and captain Granit Xhaka, they could do some damage (before inevitably exiting at the last-16 stage).

22. United States

FIFA ranking: 15

Our ranking in April: 23

It remains to be seen whether Mauricio Pochettino talking to Milan about their manager’s job in the past few weeks will have any substantive impact on the co-hosts’ prospects, but it’s not ideal. On the pitch, they lost March friendlies to Belgium and Portugal but did beat Senegal in a World Cup warm-up game. Everything still runs through Christian Pulisic, so if he can perform after a patchy season in Italy, then they might have a chance of making an impact on home soil. Could they win it? They have “zero chance”, according to former England and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker.

23. Japan

FIFA ranking: 19

Our ranking in April: 21

The absence of star player Kaoru Mitoma through injury has dampened Japan’s prospects of making a notable impact on this World Cup, albeit they have more strength in depth than in previous years with the likes of Wataru Endo, Daichi Kamada, Ao Tanaka and Daizen Maeda all plying their trade in England and Scotland. This will be their eighth World Cup in a row, but they have yet to get past the first knockout round: they certainly have the talent to go further this time.

24. Turkey

FIFA ranking: 25

Our ranking in April: 24

Turkey made it to the tournament via the play-offs, and it would have been a huge pity had this outstanding crop of attacking young talent not qualified. But, happily, the World Cup will be blessed with Arda Guler, Kenan Yildiz and Baris Yilmaz: for neutrals at these tournaments, you want players who can produce great, spectacular moments, and Turkey certainly have those.

25. Australia

FIFA ranking: 27

Our ranking in April: 25

Qualifying wasn’t without its imperfections but Australia are riding high in the FIFA rankings, their best rating for 14 years because of their ability to grind out results, which is certainly what pragmatic coach Tony Popovic wants them to do, albeit performances haven’t exactly been thrill-a-minute. Jackson Irvine remains a stalwart of the team, while Watford winger Nestory Irankunda, aged 20, will turn a few heads.

26. Algeria

FIFA ranking: 28

Our ranking in April: 27

Algeria marched through qualifying without ever really being spectacular. Guided from the dugout by former Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic, on the pitch, former Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez is still their leader, but it probably won’t be long before he passes the baton to 25-year-old Mohamed Amoura or another young forward. You would be surprised if they don’t make it out of their group — although Austria and Jordan will be no joke — but much more than that might be a stretch.

27. Austria

FIFA ranking: 24

Our ranking in April: 29

Austria have moved up a couple of spots from our previous rankings, but that’s more to do with problems with other teams rather than any huge advances made by Ralf Rangnick’s men. This is their first World Cup since 1998, and plenty of their attacking focus is still on 37-year-old Marko Arnautovic, playing these days in Serbia for Crvena Zvezda.

28. Ghana

FIFA ranking: 72

Our ranking in April: 26

Ghana sacked manager Otto Addo in March, which doesn’t scream ‘steady ship’, plus the absence of Mohamed Kudus will be quite a blow. Plenty of attacking hopes will rest on the shoulders of Antoine Semenyo, and how quickly Addo’s replacement Carlos Queiroz will be able to get the team pointing in the right direction.

29. Canada

FIFA ranking: 29

Our ranking in April: 30

Their spot reflects their FIFA ranking but Canada and Jesse Marsch will probably think they should be a little higher, given home advantage and given Marsch has now been working with the group for a couple of years, all in preparation for the coming weeks (and beyond). The fitness of Alphonso Davies is a perennial concern and they have never won a World Cup match, but they should — should — progress from their group. It would be a huge disappointment for them and the tournament as a whole if not.

30. Paraguay

FIFA ranking: 40

Our ranking in April: 31

Our advice when it comes to Paraguay is: maybe don’t cancel any big plans to watch them. In 18 qualifying games, they conceded only 10 goals but scored 14, which suggests they won’t be involved in too many ding-dong tussles. Still, they do in theory have a few strong attackers, like Miguel Almiron and Julio Enciso, so perhaps they will surprise us.

31. Iran

FIFA ranking: 20

Our ranking in April: 28

Iran have fallen a few places because it’s increasingly clear it will be impossible for them to have anything close to a ‘normal’ tournament, given they’re being asked to play a World Cup in a country that their own is literally at war with. Plus the squad is old, the manager seems pretty unpopular and star forward Sardar Azmoun has been left out for non-football reasons, despite one of Iran’s vice-presidents, Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, calling for the 31-year-old’s ​return.

32. Sweden

FIFA ranking: 42

Our ranking in April: 33

Graham Potter guided Sweden through the back door of the play-offs after a truly miserable qualifying campaign in which they lost twice to Kosovo. They beat Ukraine 3-1 and Poland 3-2 in March to qualify but their World Cup prospects remain pretty confusing. Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak, Anthony Elanga and Lucas Bergvall all sound great on paper, but the latter trio endured poor seasons in the Premier League.

33. Panama

FIFA ranking: 33

Our ranking in April: 34

Maybe it doesn’t quite qualify as a ‘group of death’, but Panama being drawn against England, Ghana and Croatia isn’t going to help their prospects. With a kinder draw, it’s possible they might have been able to get through to the knockouts as one of the best third-placed teams, but that’s a long shot at best.

34. Scotland

FIFA ranking: 38

Our ranking in April: 35

This is Scotland’s first World Cup since 1998 and surely, surely they won’t be as disappointing as they were at Euro 2024. Losing Billy Gilmour to injury on the eve of the tournament is a blow but, in John McGinn and Scott McTominay, they have two consistently excellent performers, while mavericks like Ben Gannon-Doak and Lawrence Shankland can also cause problems.

35. Saudi Arabia

FIFA ranking: 61

Our ranking in April: 32

Nothing says “we’re prepared” like sacking your manager 59 days before your tournament opener. Herve Renard was set to take charge of Saudi Arabia at a World Cup for the third time (he oversaw that win over Argentina four years ago) but, despite getting the team over the line during qualification (having taken over from Roberto Mancini), Renard has been replaced with Georgios Donis, a former Greece international who had been coaching in the Saudi Pro League. Quite what this all means for Saudi Arabia’s prospects remains unclear.

36. Tunisia

FIFA ranking: 47

Our ranking in April: 36

Tunisia didn’t concede a single goal in qualifying, but that was under previous management: Sami Trabelsi was sacked after a disappointing AFCON, and was replaced by Sabri Lamouchi, so from that perspective they are a bit of a wildcard. It will take some effort to get anything out of a group that also features Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden.

37. South Africa

FIFA ranking: 60

Our ranking in April: 37

A 0-0 draw against Nicaragua last week didn’t inspire confidence but, in their first World Cup since hosting in 2010, South Africa will hope a decent draw (against Mexico, South Korea and Czech Republic) gives them a chance of progressing into the knockout stage. Captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who was nominated for FIFA’s Lev Yashin award in 2024, will be crucial to those hopes.

38. Qatar

FIFA ranking: 56

Our ranking in April: 38

The main aim for Qatar will be to improve on their frankly pathetic showing at home four years ago: they slunk out of the tournament with three defeats from three, but in the intervening years did retain their Asian Cup title, so they’re clearly not completely useless. Their draw is relatively friendly, in a group with Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Switzerland, so making it through isn’t completely out of the question.

39. Czech Republic

FIFA ranking: 43

Our ranking in April: 39

The penalty-shootout kings (Czech Republic beat the Republic of Ireland and Denmark on spot-kicks in March’s play-offs) are one of the least-fancied European sides and will rely on two relegated Premier League players — West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek and Ladislav Krejci of Wolverhampton Wanderers — to boost their prospects of reaching the knockout stage in only the country’s second World Cup since 1990.

40. New Zealand

FIFA ranking: 85

Our ranking in April: 40

New Zealand were famously the only undefeated team at their last World Cup, in 2010, but they go to this one looking for their first victory. They didn’t exactly face great competition in qualifying, but they are in a group with a couple of potentially vulnerable teams in Iran and Egypt, so a win is possible. The bad news is they were dire in a 4-0 defeat by Haiti at the start of June.

41. Uzbekistan

FIFA ranking: 52

Our ranking in April: 45

Winning a friendly FIFA Series tournament in March may not have meant a huge amount on paper, given the opponents were Gabon and Venezuela, but it kept Uzbekistan’s momentum going ahead of the country’s first World Cup appearance. Their prospects of escaping Group K (which also contains Portugal, Colombia and DR Congo) may rest on striker and captain Eldor Shomurodov continuing his excellent club form with Istanbul Basaksehir, where he shared the Turkish Super Lig golden boot having scored 22 goals, making it the most prolific season of his career.

42. Jordan

FIFA ranking: 64

Our ranking in April: 41

Injuries have troubled the Jordan squad going into their first World Cup, but perhaps their best hope comes from the collective spirit: the country’s proximity to conflict in neighbouring countries has meant that these last few years have been pretty desperate, so this tournament will mean more to them than most.

43. Bosnia and Herzegovina

FIFA ranking: 71

Our ranking in April: 42

The team who denied Italy on penalties in March head to the World Cup with nothing much to lose. Edin Dzeko and former Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac are the only players who remain from their 2014 World Cup squad, while at the other end of the age scale, 21-year-old Ermin Mahmic, born in Austria, has switched his allegiance in time for the tournament.

44. DR Congo

FIFA ranking: 48

Our ranking in April: 43

The casual fan would be forgiven for not knowing a huge amount about the DR Congo side, but they do actually have half a sniff of progressing, given they’re in a group with first-timers Uzbekistan: beat them in the final group game and they might go through as one of the best third-place teams. What an achievement that would be.

45. Curacao

FIFA ranking: 81

Our ranking in April: 47

The World Cup’s smallest-ever nation (you’ll hear that a lot this summer) move up a couple of places, not due to anything they’ve done on the field (in their past two matches they lost 5-1 to Australia and 4-1 to Scotland, albeit the latter was with 10 men), but because Dick Advocaat is back in charge. He returned in May, three months after resigning, citing a family health issue. The 78-year-old will become the oldest manager at a World Cup (you’ll hear that a lot too).

46. Cape Verde

FIFA ranking: 67

Our ranking in April: 44

The collection of 10 small islands making the World Cup for the first time was one of last year’s great stories, but reality could hit pretty hard when they get to America. Their hope will be to stay vaguely competitive against Spain and Uruguay, and hope to pull off something special against Saudi Arabia.

47. Iraq

FIFA ranking: 58

Our ranking in April: 46

Iraq have been on quite the journey just to be at the World Cup, with the situation in the Middle East off the pitch, and a dramatic intercontinental play-off victory over Bolivia on it. Former Australia coach Graham Arnold couldn’t have a tougher task against France, Norway and Senegal.

48. Haiti

FIFA ranking: 83

Our ranking in April: 48

The lowest-ranked World Cup team by both FIFA and The Athletic, Haiti’s draw could have been worse, but it will take something akin to a miracle for them to even get a point from their games against Brazil, Morocco and Scotland. Coach Sebastien Migne has never actually set foot in Haiti, due to gang violence preventing them from playing home games during his tenure, but if he pulls something special off here, they’ll carry him shoulder-high into Port-au-Prince.