With the 2026 World Cup in North America now less than three weeks away, an AFP Sport preview (published via Yahoo Sports) takes stock of the teams most widely viewed as the tournament’s leading contenders—at a finals unlike any before it.
This will be the first World Cup staged with 48 teams, a format shift that changes the rhythm of the competition and widens the field. Yet even with that expansion, familiar powers sit at the heart of the conversation, with the article framing its assessment around the established heavyweights and their recent tournament pedigrees.
At the top of the list is France (world ranking: 1), presented as the benchmark by virtue of both history and recent performance. “Les Bleus” have lifted the trophy twice, and the piece underlines just how consistently they have reached the sharp end of the competition: they have also lost two World Cup finals on penalties across the last seven editions. That combination of winning know-how and repeat deep runs is exactly why France enter as a reference point for everyone else.
England (world ranking: 4) are portrayed through the lens of near-misses and lingering questions about turning promise into silverware. Under Gareth Southgate, the article notes “agonising defeats” in the finals of the last two European Championships, plus a World Cup semi-final exit in 2018 and a quarter-final exit in 2022. The implication is clear: England’s status as a favourite is no longer hypothetical—what remains is proving they can finish the job when the tournament reaches its decisive moments.
As the countdown tightens, the article’s overall message is that the expanded 48-team stage may bring fresh storylines, but the gravitational pull of the traditional contenders remains strong. In the weeks ahead, the favourites will carry the weight of expectations—and, as always at a World Cup, the margin between “contender” and “disappointment” will be brutally thin.
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