The big summer tournaments of 2024 have come to a conclusion, with Spain winning the UEFA European Championship and Argentina taking home Copa América. While there will be some international football in the coming months, all focus is on the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
In less than two years, Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico will host one of the most anticipated World Cup tournaments in recent memory. There will be plenty of international betting options and teams as the tournament expands to 48 nations instead of the traditional 16 that have participated in the seven previous tournaments. The number of games will also increase from 64 to 104.
The venues for the 2026 World Cup will be split into three regions. In the west, the host cities will include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver. In the central region, the host cities will be Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Mexico City, and Monterrey. Finally, the east region will include Atlanta, Boston, Miami, New York/New Jersey, and Toronto. The stadium with the largest capacity will be the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, with a capacity of 87,523.
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the World Cup final, but the teams who will be participating are anyone’s guess. Just like at this summer’s European Championship and Copa América, Paris Saint-Germain should be well represented. PSG will surely sign several players in the transfer windows leading up to the tournament, but who on the current squad has the best chance to win the 2026 World Cup with their nation?
France was one of the favorites to win Euro 2024 but fell just short after being knocked out by Spain in the semi-final. Kylian Mbappé has moved on from PSG and joined Real Madrid, but Warren Zaïre-Emery, Bradley Barcola, and Ousmane Dembélé all figure to be instrumental for PSG and France in 2026. France is one of the deepest national teams, and they will be eager to make up for the disappointing loss to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Portugal is another country that had a solid showing at Euro 2024, as they took France to a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals. Many criticized Portugal for continuing to rely on 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, but hopefully, that won’t be the case by 2026. Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, and Gonçalo Ramos all represented Portugal and should in 2026 as well. Danilo was in the squad as well, but his inclusion for 2026, and PSG, is questionable. João Neves is one of the best players for Portugal, and the 19-year-old has been rumored to be interested in joining PSG. For me, Mendes, Ramos, Vitinha, and Neves (if he joins PSG) have the best chance for PSG to have World Cup winners in its squad. They won’t come in with the expectation of a France, Germany, or England, but they are just as talented at every position, if not more so.
A surprise win for a PSG player at the 2026 World Cup could be Gianluigi Donnarumma with Italy. They’ll have to qualify, which isn’t always a given, as we’ve seen in the recent past, but if they do, Donnarumma is one of the best shot-stoppers in the world. Cher Ndour is another Italy international with PSG currently who could play a role in the 2026 World Cup, but he’ll need to speed up his development in order to make the squad.
