FIFA President Gianni Infantino, that vaguely plasticine figure who has racked up thousands of air miles on a private jet to make sure he gets at least two cutaways in the broadcast of seemingly every World Cup match this summer, is not a character prone to understatement.
So, when he hailed this year’s tournament as “the greatest human, social and culture event that mankind has ever witnessed,” one could be forgiven for taking it with a pinch of salt. But it has been pretty good.
That’s not to say that its failings should be overlooked; visa debacles, governmental interference and Cristiano Ronaldo’s form will inspire debate for plenty of time to come. Yet, the vast majority of this first truly continental World Cup has largely been a success.
For all its pretense as an entertainment industry, this is very much a fierce competition. Only one team can win but—as it transpires—all 48 can be ranked.
Ranking Criteria
- Performance: This is the chief factor to consider. The elimination round is the first port of call and serves as a helpful mini-bracket within which to judge each side.
- Expectations: Not all group stage exits are equal. Each nation’s ambitions heading into the tournament are taken into consideration.
- Fun: At the World Cup, more than any other tournament, a sense of enjoyment goes a long way.
48. Tunisia
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
“As long as there’s life, there’s hope,” Hervé Renard promised when he was appointed as Tunisia’s second manager of the 2026 World Cup after just one match. That hope died a swift death when Japan scored four minutes into his debut.
47. Uruguay
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D2 L1
“I have not left anything to Uruguayan soccer,” Marcelo Bielsa concluded after overseeing the nation’s worst World Cup performance in a generation. That’s doing himself a disservice. Bielsa left Uruguayan soccer with a broken locker room, a culture of fear and scars that will never heal.
46. South Korea
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W1 D0 L2
You know it’s bad when the President publicly demands a governmental analysis of an “utterly baffling” World Cup performance.
45. Türkiye
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W1 D0 L2
Only one team across the entire group stage registered more shots than Türkiye, yet the tournament’s lamest of dark horses didn’t score until they had already been eliminated. A crumb of comfort was beating the USMNT in a dead rubber.
44. Saudi Arabia
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D2 L1
The Saudi Arabia soccer federation considered the World Cup to be such a gross failure that its president Yasser al-Misehal quit three days after elimination was confirmed. That’s what drawing with Uruguay will do to you.
43. Iraq
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
The expectations the last team to qualify for the World Cup carried into the competition were captured by Graham Arnold’s send-off message. “Everyone in Iraq should be proud of the fact that we made it here,” the manager insisted. Don’t get bogged down by the details of what they actually got up to in North America.
42. Panama
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
No wins, no goals, no fun.
41. Czechia
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D1 L2
As Thelonious Monk once memorably said, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” There is no incorrect way of playing soccer, but Czechia came closest to discovering it during a grim march to early elimination.
40. Scotland
There’s been two World Cups playing out simultaneously for Scotland this summer.
The dour affair on the pitch which led to Steve Clarke’s resignation grated violently with the wild time the fans had in Boston and Miami. Fortunately, the memories of those hazy days draining breweries, throwing cones on statues and filling public fountains with dish soap will last far longer than any 1–0 loss to Morocco.
39. Uzbekistan
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
They say that the person who smiles in a crisis is the first one to have worked out who to blame. It felt oddly fitting that Uzbekistan manager Fabio Cannavaro ended defeats to Portugal and DR Congo with a wry grin.
38. Qatar
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D1 L2
“Switzerland, Canada and Bosnia are better than us, no doubt about that,” Qatar’s reliably cheery manager Julen Lopetegui predicted pre-tournament. “We know they’re happy to have us in their group. We must accept our reality.”
Qatar accepted it, but not without a fight, taking a point off Switzerland to avoid defeat for the first time in the nation’s World Cup history.
37. Jordan
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
There are ways to lose all three games and Jordan found the most encouraging approach; scoring in each outing, giving Algeria a run for its money and bloodying the nose of Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
Even though manager Jamal Sellami left his post after the competition’s conclusion, he was told by the Prince that he “will always remain a dear son to Jordan.”
36. Haiti
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D0 L3
No one can ever take those glorious 29 minutes which Haiti led against the (technical) African champion away from a national team playing for so much more than three group stage points.
The representatives of an island gripped by such vicious political unrest it was too dangerous for Sébastien Migné to ever visit the country he managed offered more hope than many would have expected.
35. New Zealand
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D1 L2
That New Zealand’s group stage elimination ended with a lingering sense of “What if?” is a testament to the performance of Darren Bazeley’s side, who blended deftness with drive. For a nation with two professional soccer teams, taking the lead against Asian and African powerhouses such as Iran and Egypt is nothing to dismiss.
34. Curacao
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D1 L2
Curaçao arrived at the tournament cast unfairly as a gimmick in the eyes of many elitist onlookers. But this nation with a population of less than two Azteca Stadiums emerged with a point to cherish and a goalkeeper in need of a statute.
33. Iran
Exit Round: Group Stage
Record: P3 W0 D3 L0
From a logistical point of view, it was a dire World Cup for Iran. “The most oppressed” team at the tournament, according to its manager Amir Ghalenoei, had to leave the U.S. on the day of every game it played to scurry back to its hurriedly chosen base in Tijuana, Mexico.
Despite fighting bureaucracy, fatigue and VAR, Iran still emerged unbeaten from the group stage and a matter of seconds away from qualifying for the round of 32.
32. Germany
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W2 D1 L1
The scathing German tabloid BILD captured the mood of many onlookers with a caption for a picture of the national team returning to North Carolina after the dismal penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay: “The German losers land.”
Seemingly the only person in the country who saw any positives from a grim tournament was the German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Even though being eliminated hurts: What a game!” he bizarrely wrote on social media. “With your dedication and team spirit at this World Cup, you have inspired our country. We are proud of you.”
The question “welches spiel?”—which game—soon started trending on X.
31. Algeria
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Algeria’s participation this summer will forever be remembered for its role in that bizarre 3–3 draw with Austria, a game in which both sides appeared to settle for a stalemate until the North Africans scored in stoppage time to stun everyone, including some of its own players. That Austria equalized seconds later capped off the insanity of an occasion which overshadowed what little else Algeria did this summer.
30. Senegal
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Each game felt like an entirely different World Cup for Senegal. The thrillingly competitive contest with France was the most accurate reflection of this team’s true level, but a culture of unrest behind the scenes prevented the people’s African champion from ever sustaining that level.
A stunning second-half collapse against Belgium led to midfielder Pape Gueye quitting the national team until the coaching staff was changed. He only had to wait 10 days before Pape Thiaw was sacked.
29. Austria
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Hailed as “the best thing that could have happened to Austrian football” by his own players coming into the tournament, Ralf Rangnick’s familiar failings as a manager ultimately haunted his latest side.
A stubbornly one-dimensional approach of winning back possession without any idea of what to do with that ball they spent so long chasing was ruthlessly dismantled by Spain.
28. Ghana
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Ghana managed to make it out of the group for the first time since 2010 despite leading for less than six minutes across the entire tournament. “Pragmatic” is definitely the kindest (if not the most accurate) way to describe the style Carlos Queiroz implemented.
27. South Africa
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Hugo Broos and his troops are owed plenty of credit for coming back from the public massacre of that opening day defeat to Mexico, rallying to sneak past South Korea and into the knockouts. Unfortunately, that resurrection only lasted four days (rather than the prophesied 40).
26. Ecuador
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
Ecuador will always have that victory over Germany. Quite literally: a national holiday was declared to commemorate the occasion. Probably best to forget the other three games.
25. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
When Bosnia and Herzegovina’s manager Sergej Barbarez flashed a glance at his phone after losing to the U.S. on a dry evening in Northern California, he was stunned. “I just got a message from my mother, I thought she was asleep,” he laughed. “If she’s awake everyone is awake!”
Despite the disappointment of bowing out to the co-host, no one in Sarajevo was going to bed despite the 5 a.m. local finish time. The nation’s first ever run to the World Cup knockouts was not a moment to miss or mourn, but celebrate.
24. Australia
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D2 L1
If you gamble for long enough, you’ll eventually lose the shirt on your back. So many of Tony Popovic’s big calls came to fruition; dropping vice captain Jackson Irvine, trusting Nestory Irankunda, introducing the world to Patrick Beach. Yet, his continuous game of Russia roulette ended the way it always threatened to: a knockout blow.
23. Sweden
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
The most confusing team in the entire competition. Sweden received and delivered thrashings with the same enthusiasm, conspiring to get tactically outwitted and do the outwitting just as frequently.
22. Croatia
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W2 D0 L2
Infamy, infamy, infamy. They’ve all got it in for me.
That was the stance many in the Croatian team took after an instantly infamous offside decision denied this assortment of aging scrappers a stoppage-time equalizer against Portugal.
21. Cote d’Ivoire
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W2 D0 L2
For a manager with the youngest roster at the World Cup, there felt something slightly predetermined about Emerse Fae blaming a “lack of maturity” for Côte d’Ivoire’s exit. Yet, after giving up cheap late goals against Germany and Norway, he may have had a point.
20. Japan
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D2 L1
Japan ultimately fell short of the team’s full potential with a nail-biting defeat to Brazil, but the bright flashes produced by this harmonious collective—which was missing a glut of injured stars—brings hope for the future. “The gap between us is closing now,” manager Hajime Moriyasu warned.
19. Netherlands
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W2 D0 L2
Your philosophical slant will dictate your appraisal of the Netherlands’ 2026 World Cup campaign—as it should in any debate on Dutch soccer, that most theoretical of pursuits.
Ronald Koeman was seen to have ditched the principles of Total Football—the unrealistic ideal every Holland coach is supposed to chase after since that spectacular style was established in the 1970s—only to fall at the first hurdle.
However, others would argue that Koeman’s switch to a back five and a direct approach brought the Netherlands to within a matter of minutes of victory—and they only lost on penalties to a very talented Morocco team. What’s more, the Dutch haven’t played that fantasy approach in decades. If anything, Koeman was honoring the past.
Before stepping down from his position, the forthright manager went out defiantly: “If I had to do it again, I would do it the same way again.”
18. DR Congo
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W1 D1 L2
The butt of every World Cup joke for half a century after the nation’s previous incarnation, Zaire, was humiliated in 1974, the Democratic Republic of Congo was out to right some historic wrongs this summer.
After thwarting Cristiano Ronaldo, getting a maiden tournament win and pushing England to the brink, it was job done. “We are more proud than disappointed,” manager Sébastien Desabre fairly surmised.
17. Cabo Verde
Exit Round: Round of 32
Record: P4 W0 D3 L1
Vozinha started the tournament having to pull out of his usual summer job as a volleyball coach and ended it with more Instagram followers than Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined.
Yet, the personal story of the 40-year-old goalkeeper distracts from the remarkable collective display put together across four tactically adept contests. Cabo Verde duly ended the tournament as the only team not to lose to the eventual champions, Spain.
16. Brazil
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W3 D1 L1
This may have been Brazil’s earliest World Cup elimination since 1990, but it was a painfully familiar story. For the sixth tournament in a row, the Seleção was knocked out by the first European team it faced.
15. Paraguay
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W3 D1 L1
All the good will built up by that battling performance against Germany and the wonderfully lyrical press conferences of manager Gustavo Alfaro was frittered away by an unsavory pummelling needlessly dished out to France, who defeated them all the same.
14. Portugal
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W2 D2 L1
All summer long, Roberto Martínez feverishly pointed towards the significance of the number six. “I strongly believe in numerology,” the Portugal manager warned. “In 2016 Portugal won the Euros, 1966 was the best result ever [at World Cups], 2006 was also a semifinal.”
The prophecy would come true, just not in the way Martínez had been hoping for: Guess what number Spain’s match-winner against Portugal, Mikel Merino, wore.
13. Egypt
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W2 D1 L2
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan may have left the World Cup vowing not to watch another minute of the competition and crying conspiracy, but, once the dust of his indignation has settled, he can take solace in orchestrating the nation’s best ever tournament run.
12. Canada
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W2 D1 L2
“As good as Morocco is, I’d rather be us,” Canada boss Jesse Marsch unconvincingly argued after losing to the African champion in the round of 16. Really?
11. USMNT
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W3 D0 L2
“I think overall there were positives that we’re going to take away from it,” U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams tried to tell himself after a humbling defeat to Belgium, “[but] it just doesn’t feel like it matters.”
With some time for reflection, the way this team shone in its brightest moments will feel like it mattered.
10. Colombia
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W3 D2 L0
Imagine if Colombia had learned the offside rule?
Plant an in-form Luis Díaz into this brood of balletic battlers and their tournament could have continued long past the round of 16.
As it was, the Bayern Munich frontman and his compatriots constantly went to pieces in the box. But Néstor Lorenzo would not lament his jigsaw of a side. “There is nothing to reproach,” he concluded. “Sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn’t.”
9. Mexico
Exit Round: Round of 16
Record: P5 W4 D0 L1
¿Y si sí? The question went. And what if we can? Ultimately, Mexico could not, but the fact anyone was ever brave enough to ask is a victory in and of itself.
8. Belgium
Exit Round: Quarterfinal
Record: P6 W3 D2 L1
“I don’t think that we’ve got anything to feel humiliated about,” Rudi García concluded, which is certainly one lens through which to judge a tournament. Belgium did, however, come awfully close to failing that most modest of briefs.
It took a final round thumping of New Zealand to avoid the ignominy of not topping an exceedingly easy group. Senegal almost condemned the Red Devils to disaster in the round of 32 before a dramatic fight back set up a stroll against the U.S. According to García, “Lady Luck” deserted Belgium against Spain, but she had been working overtime up until that point.
7. Morocco
Exit Round: Quarterfinal
Record: P6 W3 D2 L1
It’s a testament to the enduring quality of Morocco that a quarterfinal exit—once the impregnable glass ceiling for African nations—is considered a minor disappointment.
But despite losing one round earlier, Mohamed Ouahbi had clearly constructed a more well-round side compared to the semifinalists of 2022. The only issue was that Morocco met France in the quarterfinals this time around.
6. Switzerland
Exit Round: Quarterfinal
Record: P6 W3 D2 L1
Switzerland had won just one World Cup knockout match across the 88 years prior to this summer’s tournament. In North America, the Europeans won two—and came desperately close to claiming a third scalp against Argentina before a dubious red card.
Manager Murat Yakin was not alone in his assessment: “We can be incredibly proud.”
5. Norway
Exit Round: Quarterfinal
Record: P6 W4 D0 L2
Norway embodied everything good about this World Cup. The superstar turned up and wooed the U.S. with his fascination of taxidermy, the fans delivered a signature celebration which will be copied by everyone else ad nauseam for years to come and the team delivered some of the most exciting soccer of the summer.
4. France
Exit Round: Semifinal
Record: P8 W6 D0 L2
You either die or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. In the case of Didier Deschamps, his transformation into a hero of free-flowing attacking play was his ultimate crime.
The front four of Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé and one of Bradley Barcola or Désire Doué was so beguiling and bewitching that it briefly inspired a bitter sense of what may have been had Deschamps not been so tactically dour in every previous tournament. Well, the dismantling dished out by Spain (and England) is what would have happened.
3. England
Exit Round: Semifinal
Record: P8 W6 D1 L1
For all the questions of tactical cowardice, laboring against low blocks and fear of the ball, this has been a summer of some notable high points for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
Jude Bellingham put together the best individual World Cup performance of any England player ever, Elliot Anderson emerged as one of the globe’s premier midfielders while Djed Spence stuffed a redemption arc worthy of an entire career into six and a half weeks. There was also that tornado masked as a soccer game at the Azteca.
The reality is hard to argue with. “This is the best England group for a very long time. That’s a fact,” Declan Rice bluntly pointed out. “No-one can take that away from us.”
2. Argentina
Exit Round: Final
Record: P8 W7 D0 L1
“The ball might go in,” Lionel Scaloni mused at the start of the tournament, “it might not.” It won’t go in if you don’t hit the target.
Ultimately, the final proved to be one dramatic heist too many for Argentina. The defending champion ended the defense of its title in tears and a tantrum, but for so much of the summer it served as the most enduring source of entertainment.
1. Spain
Exit Round: Final
Record: P8 W7 D1 L0
It was a final for the purists and a fitting one for Spain to win. Lacking the attacking verve of its iteration from the 2024 European Championship triumph, Luis de la Fuente dialled the tempo right down, putting each and every opponent through a kind of psychological warfare, denying them the ball and, more importantly, any meaningful territory.
Unai Simón racked up his seventh clean sheet of the summer without having to make a single save in the final. Argentina’s Emiliano Martínez produced a record-breaking 11 in that one game and still ended up on the losing side. As De la Fuente had warned in the buildup to the final, this is a “Team with a capital ‘T’.”
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