Ranking the 10 Best Players of the 2026 World Cup
- Zak Drapeau
- Jul 22
- 6 min read
by Zak Drapeau
Sportz Nation - 7/21/2026
10. Declan Rice
England Center Mid
From the historic Arsenal squad that finally won the Premier League after 22 years to England's 3rd place finish in the World Cup, Declan Rice has had quite a year. As England's Center Mid, he was the master of their set pieces and often times starter of their offense while controlling pacing with passes around the back.
Say what you will about the state of France in the nations' 3rd-place game but Rice certainly saved his best game for last with a goal and an assist. This was indicative of his overall playmaking and how often he would start chances for England especially from outside the box where his 40 crosses marked 5th for the whole competition. Rice also completed 92% of all of his passes and could easily make a World Cup Starting XI as a Holding Midfielder.
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9. Pau Cubarsi
Spain Center Back
Is it possible that the best Center Back in the entire World Cup was a 19-year old? It may be an insane thing to say but the Barcelona product stood tall as an elite Center back for one of the best defenses we've ever seen in any World Cup. His consistency to shut down anything that came through the middle of Spain's defense and to be responsible for 0 goals throughout an entire 7 game World Cup is outstanding.
Cubarsi also played all 660 minutes in 7 games with only 3 fouls and 1 yellow card. The teenager showed remarkable poise and strength in the back line the entire tournament and of course was helped by the all-around impressive Spanish side but nonetheless was remarkable in every game.
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8. Achraf Hakimi
Morocco Right Back
Hakimi and Morocco may have only made the Quarter Finals but his play was outstanding. Hakimi is the best example of a Do It All Fullback in the modern age and showed it just about every game he played. A set piece master which led to 1 of his 2 assists in this World Cup, Hakimi was the best defender and may have actually be Morocco's best attacker too.
We all knew that the Moroccan Captain was among the best defenders in the world and would have a huge impact for his country and even though they didn't quite go as far as they would have liked, the Captain led by example and was as formidable in the back as he was explosive in the front.
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7. Ousmane Dembele
France Attacking Mid
The fact that Dembele is the current Ballon d'Or and was perhaps the 3rd or 4th best player on France makes it even more stunning they couldn't even place in the Top-3. Dembele may have been the best player in the entire World Cup as far as Group Stage but actually falls down the list for having an average Knockout Stage performance.
As both an attacking mid and right winger, Dembele was often outshined by two players later on in this list which is less of an indictment as it is an example of French football. Dembele still created chance after chance and kept their attack moving but unfortunately for one of the World's best right now, other players just did better.
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6, Jude Bellingham
England Attacking Mid
One of the biggest reasons England was so elite in this World Cup was the alignment of Declan Rice in Mid to Bellingham to Attacking Mid and their Striker atop for possibly the best attack of any nation.
Finishing 3rd in Goals Scored in the entire tournament with 7 in 7 games, Bellingham was England's best player because not only did he finish off the most chances for his country but he started the most too.
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5. Michael Olise
France Right Wing
Michael Olise made his International Tournament debut in the 2026 World Cup and immediately made a name for himself. Outplaying teammate Ousmane Dembele more often than not and assisting Kylian Mbappe 5 different times showed just how creative and electric the 24-year old is on the wing.
The top assister in the World Cup with 7, Olise was part of the unbelievable crop of young talent France brought to the World Cup including Doue and Barcola but emerged as the best of the bunch and a staple in the world powers' future.
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4. Erling Haaland
Norway Striker
If any one player rose his stock as a player in this World Cup I'd have to say it was Haaland. Even if he's not the top Striker on this list I have to say that Haaland made a claim for being the absolute best pure goal scorer in the world right now.
With 7 goals in 5 games and playing every minute of every game Norway played, Haaland was basically Norway's entire attack for this tournament and rose to the occasion almost every single time. If he was on a team like France, Germany or Brazil he would've topped this list and maybe won it all.
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3. Kylian Mbappe
France Striker
The leading goal scorer of the entire World Cup and Captain of France, Mbappe's race with Messi for the golden boot will always live on with soccer fans in this World Cup but France's absolute fall off at the end hurts his case here.
10 goals and 4 assists in the tournament including 4 different games with 2 assists made Mbappe probably the single best attacker in the field. His play on the pitch is immediate offense and on a squad like France where there are literally 4 other players in the running for best player in the world, Mbappe still stands out as the absolute best.
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2. Lionel Messi
Argentina Right Wing
The fact that Lionel Messi turned 39-years old in the middle of this World Cup and still outplayed all but 1 person in the entire World on his way to a record setting 3rd World Cup Final is truly astonishing. The moments the little man created on his way to the titular match were unparalleled including his w assist, 80th minute comeback in the Semi-Finals and his hattrick in Argentina's first match of the tournament will live in World Cup folklore forever.
Coming up just short of a repeated World Cup trophy, Messi may have been absolutely shut down by Spain but he was probably the best player in the entire tournament for his first 7 games. With 8 goals and 4 assists in the tournament's highest scoring nation throughout, all you csn do is simply bow down to the Greatest of All Time. But there was one man who was just a little bit better...
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1. Rodri
Spain Defensive Mid
Yes the best player in the World Cup was the Captain himself, Rodri Hernandez. While goal scoring is most often associated with the top players in the world, Rodri has shown over the past 3 years that pace of play, passing the ball and structure on offense and defense is sometimes more valuable than scoring. He proved that again and after leading Spain to winning the Euros and man of the Tournament there, he did it AGAIN and won the World Cup and took home the Golden Ball here too.
Defensively, Rodri led the entire tournament in tackles with 26, completed passes with 756 and pass completion with 94%. There can be a claim that as good as anyone in the world is at their position, Rodri is better at the CDM role. His efforts don't need to be debated, he has proven they lead to hardware time and time again and deservedly so ranks #1 in the best players of the World Cup 2026.
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Make sure ot stay tuned as we continue coverage of the 2026 World Cup and Summer Transfer Window.
Z.D.
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