Well, that’s it for another four years.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is in the books after Spain edged a one-sided final against Argentina 1–0 in New Jersey. As a result, Brazil in 1962 remains the most recent team to retain the trophy, while Vittorio Pozzo is still the only manager to win two men’s World Cups.
While two nations stuck it out until the last, for the other 46, their respective journeys ended sooner. There’s already been plenty of fallout across the soccer world, with managers moving on and crisis talks taking place. Already, 2030 is being considered.
Here’s one thing we learned about each of the 48 nations that competed at the 2026 World Cup.
Algeria
Time is a healer, and the resentment Algeria doubtless had towards Austria for its role in the 1982 ’Disgrace of Gíjon’ has dissipated.
It had the chance to knock one of the Gíjon colluders out of the World Cup on Matchday 3 of the group stage, but instead ’allowed’ the Austrians a late equalizer after Riyad Mahrez accidentally scored a third. Both teams advanced; neither made it past the round of 32.
Argentina
Argentina’s rough toil in New Jersey was the end of an era.
This group of players has led its country to two Copa América titles and World Cup glory, but now it’s time for Lionel Scaloni to integrate fresh blood into his framework. The likes of Nico Paz and Valentín Barco are set to spearhead an exciting new generation.
Australia
Football Australia is backing manager Tony Popovic to the hilt. The Socceroos impressed in qualifying and offered glimpses of their counterattacking potency at the tournament. Popovic’s new contract suggests he’ll lead his country throughout the next World Cup cycle.
Austria
There’s only so much Ralf Rangnick can achieve. Sure, Austria was beaten by the eventual champions in the round of 32, but the manager’s heavy emphasis on pressing and counterpressing left the Central Europeans short of ideas in possession against stellar opposition.
Belgium
Rudi Garcia’s stock has taken hit after hit in recent years, but his coaching performance was admirable at the World Cup. After an indifferent start, García made bold changes that aided the Red Devils, with the dropping of big names facilitating their best showing of the tournament against the USMNT.
He’s since stepped down from his position, but clubs will soon be lining up for his services.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
While it was here, Bosnia and Herzegovina dominated from set-pieces. Three of its five goals came from dead ball situations, as did 64.79% of its total xG—the second-highest share of the World Cup, per Opta.
Brazil
Carlo Ancelotti is fallible, too. Those who backed an underwhelming Brazil to win a sixth World Cup did so because of the Italian’s stoic presence on the touchline.
However, Ancelotti made a terrible blunder in the round of 16 by introducing Neymar with a healthy chunk of Brazil’s tight knockout tie remaining. Norway asserted total control in the aftermath, and Erling Haaland made them pay.
Cabo Verde
Never underestimate the power of social media. 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha emerged as a viral sensation after his performance against Spain on Matchday 1, with his Instagram following sky-rocketing from 50,000 to more than 14 million overnight. He now has 29.4 million.
Canada
The United States was the dominant host, but the tournament’s legacy may age better in Canada. There’s a real sense of momentum developing north of the border, with Jesse Marsch’s “heroes” achieving an impressive round-of-16 berth.
The World Cup was a major success for Canadian soccer.
Colombia
Colombia exited the World Cup in the round of 16 with a sense of ’what could’ve been?’ After a long season with Bayern Munich, star man Luis Díaz failed to deliver when it mattered most.
Had Colombia enjoyed the very best of the spritely winger this summer, it surely would’ve embarked on a deeper run.
Côte d’Ivoire
Amad Diallo’s Manchester United future seemed up in the air at the end of the 2025–26 season, and there has been transfer interest this summer.
However, Amad’s impressive World Cup campaign will surely convince the Red Devils that the winger is worth clinging onto as Michael Carrick’s project enters its first full season.
Croatia
At 40 years old, Luka Modrić finally appeared mortal. Much of his fifth World Cup was a struggle, but Croatian midfielders will simply always dominate knockout stage matches.
Croatia was cruelly beaten by Portugal in the round of 32, yet the performance of Mateo Kovačić alongside Modrić in the second half of the tie was special. It was Croatian soccer heritage.
Curaçao
This was the ’Diaspora World Cup,’ and no nation embraced its foreign-born nationals more than the tiny island of Curaçao, a former Dutch colony.
Of Dick Advocaat’s 26-man roster, only Tahith Chong was born in Curaçao, making it the team with the highest ratio of diaspora representation in international soccer.
Czechia
Czechia’s World Cup campaign played out as the overwhelming majority expected it to. Drab.
DR Congo
A nation dogged by war briefly united for its first World Cup campaign in over 50 years. For just a little while, as Sébastien Desabre’s team teased a monumental upset over England, soccer took center stage.
“Every victory, every flag raised, strengthens our pride, our national identity and the invisible foundations of our unity," President Félix Tshisekedi commented during the tournament.
Ecuador
A popular ’dark horse’ pick, Ecuador’s vaunted defense didn’t exactly live up to its pre-tournament billing and if it’s to do serious damage on the big stage moving forward, there must be an uptick in attacking talent coming through.
Egypt
Watch out for Haissem Hassan, folks. The star of Egypt’s dramatic round-of-16 demise caught the eye in North America and may soon be dazzling the Celtic Park faithful in Glasgow.
Succeeding Mohamed Salah is an impossible task, but Hassan could blossom into an Egyptian star in his own right.
England
Perhaps it wasn’t Sir Gareth Southgate’s fault after all...
France
France’s World Cup ended with a whimper, yet we received a timely reminder of Kylian Mbappé’s brilliance. After a tumultuous campaign with Real Madrid, Mbappé relished the grandest stage of all and showed why he should still be regarded as the sport’s most electrifying attacking star.
Oh, but goals in the third-place playoff should not count towards the Golden Boot!
Germany
“You can never write off the Germans!” they once said. Well, it turns out that you can nowadays.
Ghana
Give Carlos Queiroz a few weeks with a group of players and good things seem to happen. The Black Stars should do all they can to convince the 73-year-old to take the project on long-term, given the pride he restored to Ghanaian soccer over the summer.
Haiti
The World Cup’s lowest-ranked team unsurprisingly finished bottom of a tough Group C, yet Haiti still overperformed. Scotland merely edged past them in its opening game, and there was a combined 29 minutes when it held the lead against Morocco.
Another nation entrenched in conflict, Haitians will hope its positive World Cup functions as the catalyst for drastic social improvement.
Iran
A hugely admirable performance.
Iran’s players are drenched in spirit and resilience, given the circumstances they faced this summer. ”The most oppressed” team of the World Cup exited early, yet was fittingly never beaten. It was ever so close to prolonging its stay, too.
Iraq
Iran notwithstanding, was anyone else dealt a stiffer hand than Iraq at the World Cup? Drawn into the ’Group of Death,’ Graham Arnold’s team didn’t stand a chance on its first appearance at the tournament since 1986.
Arnold, who led Australia at the 2022 World Cup, set his side up pretty well, yet the Lions of Mesopotamia still shelled an average of four goals per game.
Japan
Japan was well-drilled and structurally sound, but a deep run this summer was always going to be difficult in the absence of Kaoru Mitoma. The Samurai Blue lacked an X-factor in the final third, yet the signs remain promising for Hajime Moriyasu’s team.
Jordan
Goalkeeper Yazeed Abulaila must be a big Lionel Messi fan. That can be the only explanation for his role in Messi’s free-kick goal against Jordan on Matchday 3.
Morocco
It’s hard to gauge how Morocco felt about its World Cup campaign. Semifinalists in 2022, it performed with a more progressive swagger this time around, but its limp defeat to the almighty France proved that there’s still a gap to close with the very best.
Mexico
The Estadio Azteca may well be the most glorious amphitheatre in soccer, and really, it should’ve played host to the final. While we did bid farewell to the stadium with an all-time great World Cup knockout tie, we should’ve enjoyed more of El Tri’s spiritual home.
Netherlands
It’s time for the KNVB to consider never appointing Ronald Koeman again. The Dutch keep returning to one of their icons like a toxic ex despite his knack for letting the country down when it matters most. This time, it was his switch to a rather cowardly back five that backfired in the round of 32 against Morocco, even if the Netherlands was ultimately defeated on penalties.
“I don't give a damn. If I could do it over again, I would do exactly the same,” the now-departed Koeman asserted post-match. It’s never his fault.
New Zealand
It’s criminal that we only got to enjoy three matches of Chris Wood and Elijah Just working in glorious tandem. They were a reincarnation of Cole and Yorke, Berbatov and Keane, Shearer and Sutton, etc, etc.
Norway
Norway’s ’Viking Row’ brought historians to the table.
Some questioned whether the Vikings ever rowed during their heyday, given their proficiency as sailors, but such scepticism has been comprehensively debunked.
The chant swept across North America, from Times Square to North Texas, emerging as one of the viral sensations of the World Cup.
Panama
Panama certainly looked better equipped to compete against the world’s best compared to 2018, but its evolution under Thomas Christiansen culminated in no wins and no goals at this summer‘s tournament.
Where does it go from here?
Paraguay
Few managers will be returning home more popular than Paraguay’s Gustavo Alfaro.
The deep-thinking Argentinian coach was the mastermind of what’s been recognised as the country’s greatest-ever World Cup victory, with President Santiago Peña declaring a national holiday in the wake of its penalty shootout triumph over Germany in the round of 32.
Portugal
For nations with an emerging ’golden generation’ anywhere in the world, remember this: You do not always need to hire Roberto Martínez.
Qatar
FIFA’s suspension rules came under scrutiny this summer, and its disciplinary committee harshly punished Assim Madibo for his leg-breaking challenge on Ismaël Koné.
On the surface, a five-game suspension may seem reasonable. However, the extent of Koné’s injury was incredibly unfortunate, and Madibo, already scarred by the incident, didn’t deserve such a severe punishment.
A player’s intent cannot be judged by the injury their challenge caused.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s sporting investment is dwindling, but its interest in soccer will remain up until it hosts the World Cup in 2034.
Its performance at this summer’s tournament was distinctly uninspiring, though, and offered little hope that the Saudis will be competitive on home soil in eight years.
Scotland
Play to win. Scotland may boast inferior talent pools to Morocco and Brazil, but Steve Clarke’s conservatism cost the Tartan Army across the pond. A 3–0 defeat to the Seleção on Matchday 3 forced the Scots to endure an agonizing wait until the end of the group stage, hoping to be one of the eight best-performing third-place finishers.
They weren’t.
Senegal
Egregious.
Senegal’s exit at the hands of Belgium was a collapse of the highest order, capping off a messy World Cup on and off the field for the Lions of Teranga. Senegal is the moral African champions, yet a major reset across the board has to take place after the tournament.
Getting rid of manager Pape Thiaw isn’t the solution to all of its issues.
South Africa
Bold possession play doesn’t necessarily facilitate excitement. South Africa stretched the pitch in the build-up phase and tested opposing presses, but a lack of quality in attack often rendered its work in the first two-thirds of the pitch futile.
Still, qualifying for the knockouts was quite a remarkable achievement after its messy opening-day defeat to the co-hosts.
Spain
Spain won its second World Cup despite Lamine Yamal failing to hit top gear, Nico Williams missing much of the tournament through injury and Pedri running on fumes. Its collective mastery guided them to glory, and few would bet against them completing their 2008-to-2012 repeat at Euro 2028.
Deserved winners.
South Korea
Son Heung-min is all but done, guys. Sad, we know. The xG defier has lost his superpower, ending the World Cup with zero goals from an xG of 1.05, per Opta.
His goalscoring woes with LAFC in 2026 were proven not to merely be a blip in form.
Sweden
Graham Potter worked a minor miracle to get Sweden back to the World Cup after missing out in 2022. He’ll lead its quest to qualify for Euro 2028, and he must find a way of getting Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres to work in harmony.
Switzerland
Switzerland will be solid, functional and consistent at major tournaments until the end of time. Also, Breel Embolo will be there.
Tunisia
We learned that Tunisian soccer is in a state and that it desperately requires a major overhaul.
As crisp as Hervé Renard’s white shirts are, he should’ve stayed well away from that mess after Sabri Lamouchi received his marching orders.
Türkiye
Türkiye can fail even when the entire soccer world isn’t labeling them as the tournament’s ’dark horse.’ Norway took that crown this time around, and Ståle Solbakken‘s side delivered.
Uruguay
Is it time, Marcelo Bielsa? You’ve done plenty for the sport already.
Uruguay was a meek iteration of a Bielsa-led team, and the manager’s decision to recall veteran goalkeeper Fernando Muslera proved a disastrous one. Muslera is seemingly never too far away from the next egregious mistake, and he cost his country again this summer.
USMNT
Maybe the USMNT will never bridge the gap. Mauricio Pochettino’s roster was lauded as the proud nation’s finest ever, and victory over European opposition in the knockout stages teased some into believing that perhaps this time, things would be different.
Then the Folarin Balogun debacle ensued and the USMNT were grossly off color in a 4–1 defeat to Belgium. Americans caught World Cup fever this summer, yet the nature of their elimination allowed a sense of hopelessness to foster.
Uzbekistan
Despite the presence of a former Ballon d’Or-winning defender on the touchline, debutant Uzbekistan was a defensive mess. Only Iraq and Tunisia (both 12) conceded more goals than Fabio Cannavaro’s team (11) in the group stage.
