The 2026 FIFA World Cup concluded with Spain beating Argentina 1–0 after extra time to become the world champions for the second time.
There were some exceptional performances from certified superstars at the tournament, while there were some debutants as well who took the World Cup by storm.
Here, we present our team of the tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón was a wall between the sticks. He played the sweeper-keeper role to perfection en route to helping his side become world champions.
Simón conceded one solitary goal throughout the entire campaign. Despite the Spanish defence playing a relatively high line, he not only made goal-stopping saves, but also neutralised threats during turnovers, while coming off his line and helping his defenders. He made ten saves with a 90.9% save percentage and made a new World Cup record of seven clean sheets in a single edition.
For his contributions to Spain’s World Cup triumph, Simón also won the Golden Glove award at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The now-former Chelsea defender was an absolute nuisance for the opposition teams throughout the tournament, having been an integral part of the formidable Spanish backline that only conceded one goal throughout the campaign.
Cucurella is a superb modern-day fullback who can contribute in attack while also being reliable at the back. He is great at tackling and can hold his own in aerial duels despite his height. At this World Cup, he provided two assists, played the full 90 minutes of every game, and maintained a 92% pass completion rate.
Marc Guéhi was England’s standout performer at the back. Barring the high-scoring third-place encounter against France, England were stingy in defence and only conceded four goals until the play-off fixture.
Guéhi was sensational in the English backline, having started six games and recorded a 97% passing accuracy with 476 completed passes. He won 23 of the 29 duels he contested directly and made 28 clearances. He helped his nation reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and take home the bronze medal.
At only 19, Cubarsí is a World Cup winner, having been one of the architects of his team winning the World Cup for a second time.
Cubarsí played every match for Spain at this World Cup at centre-back and helmed the backline alongside Aymeric Laporte that conceded just one goal and kept an incredible seven clean sheets. The Barça defender maintained a 96% passing accuracy with a total of 640 completed passes and 33 clearances.
His defensive brilliance at the back not only won Spain the World Cup, but also earned Cubarsí the Young Player of the Tournament award.
Pedro Porro may have endured a tough time at Tottenham Hotspur last season, barely escaping relegation, but that didn’t deter the fullback when it came to performing for his nation.
Similar to his fullback partner Cucurella on the other side, Porro was a proper threat going forward while being able to track back to help his central defenders. At the tournament, Porro scored two goals, had a 91% passing accuracy with 392 completed passes in six matches, and provided the cross that led to the winning goal in the final. He was also named the man of the match in the semi-final against France.
Rodri struggled last season with Manchester City after coming back from a long-term injury (ACL), and there were a lot of doubts about his ability to perform at this World Cup. But the midfield maestro simply smashed it at the tournament, controlling the Spanish midfield, setting the tempo, and choking the opposition teams.
His best performances arrived in the big knockout games, the semi-final against France and the final against Argentina, where he controlled possession and dictated the tempo of the game while protecting his backline and choking the opposition forwards like the elite defensive midfielder he is.
For his incredible performances throughout the World Cup, which played no small part in taking Spain all the way, Rodri was adjudged the Player of the Tournament and won the prestigious Golden Ball.
Bellingham was arguably England’s most impressive player at this World Cup and one of the best performers at the tournament overall with seven goals and an assist in eight games.
The Real Madrid midfielder scored two crucial braces against Mexico and Norway in the knockouts and helped England to a third-place finish at the World Cup. He also became the highest-scoring Englishman in a single World Cup campaign, surpassing Harry Kane’s Golden Boot-winning performance at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, proving yet again why Real Madrid paid the big bucks for him.
French midfielder Michael Olise was one of the players to watch throughout this World Cup after a phenomenal domestic campaign with Bayern Munich.
Olise started the tournament as a right-winger but was shifted to a playmaking role in the middle after a few games by coach Didier Deschamps, a move that unlocked star striker Kylian Mbappé. Olise ended the tournament with seven assists in eight games, breaking Pelé’s record for the most assists at a World Cup tournament in the process.
Although he didn’t score any goals, Olise was vital to Les Bleus reaching the World Cup semi-finals as one of the best playmakers in the tournament.
Erling Haaland made his World Cup debut with Norway in this edition. He had also been instrumental in Norway’s qualification for the tournament with 16 goals in eight games, helping his team qualify after a gap of 28 years.
At the World Cup, the Man City striker scored seven goals in five games, leading his side to a quarter-final finish. The Vikings‘ biggest giant-killing arrived in the Round of 16 when they defeated South American heavyweights Brazil, with Haaland taking matters into his own hands and scoring a brace late in the game to knock out the Seleção.
French striker Kylian Mbappé was at his lethal best at this World Cup. He repeated his feat from the last World Cup, bagging the Golden Boot with ten goals in seven games. His incredible performances also made him the all-time top scorer in the tournament’s history with a total of 22 goals, overtaking Lionel Messi.
Mbappé led France to the World Cup semi-finals on the back of his top performances, where only a tactically superior Spain side could overcome Les Bleus. He also scored a brace in the third-place play-off against England, although France lost the high-scoring encounter 6–4 despite coming back from 4–0 down.
At 39, not many expected Lionel Messi to perform well at the World Cup, but again he proved his doubters wrong and showed why he is the best ever to play the beautiful game.
Messi almost single-handedly dragged Argentina to the World Cup final. He scored a majority of their goals in the group stage: a hat-trick in the first game, a brace in the second, and another goal in the third to take them to the knockouts.
In total, Messi scored eight goals and provided four assists in seven games. He was instrumental in bringing Argentina back from the dead every time they found themselves in trouble, especially in the knockout games against Egypt and England.
This was most likely Messi’s last World Cup, and we are just glad we could witness his magic one more time at the grandest stage of all.
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