sports
World Cup Rank: The 50 best players in the 2026 to...
Key takeaways
- As silly as it might seem, whoever wins the 2026 World Cup is going to have an outsize impact on who the soccer world decides is the best soccer player in the world.
- And OK, fine, the best players have possession of the ball for only about three total minutes every match.
- But that doesn't stop Ballon d'Or voters from leaning aggressively toward selecting a player from whatever team won the World Cup whenever the vote falls in a World Cup year.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
Germany (2:37)
As silly as it might seem, whoever wins the 2026 World Cup is going to have an outsize impact on who the soccer world decides is the best soccer player in the world.
Sure, there are 11 players on each team. And OK, fine, the best players have possession of the ball for only about three total minutes every match. And yeah, it's entirely possible that the best soccer player in the world right now had the "misfortune" of being born in, say, Georgia -- no, not the one with the peaches.
Article preview — originally published by ESPN. Full story at the source.
Read full story on ESPN →
More top stories
Also covered by
Aggregated and edited by the Scoop newsroom. We surface news from ESPN alongside other reporting so you can compare coverage in one place.
Editorial policy · Corrections · About Scoop