Ranking the 10 best young players of the 2026 World Cup - with Barcelona and Manchester City stars among those shining brightest.
Every four years, the World Cup serves as a platform for previously unknown players to become stars, and for potential to be realised on the grandest stage of them all. This was not, however, the best year for the youngest players at the tournament.
Of the 174 players who have scored at this expanded edition of the World Cup prior to the final and third-place play-off, just 13 were aged 21 or younger, and many of the youngsters we picked out as having the potential to shine before the tournament struggled to make much of a dent. This has been a year dominated by the established stars, and in which even the breakout players were longer in the tooth – 40-year-old Vozinha being the most obvious example.
Still, there have been some outstanding performances in Canada, the United States and Mexico over the past month which deserve to be recognised and honoured – so ahead of the final, we’ve dusted off our regular Wonderkid Power Rankings, which monitor the progress of the best young players in the Premier League during the domestic season, to count down our Top 10 Under-21 players of the 2026 World Cup.
10. Kerim Alajbegović – Bosnia & Herzegovina
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We picked the 18-year-old Alajbegović out as a possible star prior to the tournament, but in the end he became one of several talented youngsters who only really shone in one match while struggling to make a dent for the rest of their run. We could have picked out Australia’s Nestory Irankunda, Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi or Senegal’s Ibrahim Mbaye for this slot too, but we decided that Alajbegović was the best of the one-game wonders.
That one game came against Qatar in the group stages, when Alajbegović was the most dyanmic and dangerous player on the pitch. Not only did he score a brilliant goal, rattling a ferocious 20-yard-strike in at the near post, but he tormented the Qatari defence throughout, constantly breaking past his marker on the left wing and whipping crosses and passes into the box. Bayer Leverkusen have just signed him – expect to see more of Alajbegović in the future.
9. Christ Inao Oulaï – Ivory Coast
Another player we earmarked before the first match got underway, Oulaï is a box-to-box midfielder with wonderful technique and an impressive passing range – and while he didn’t get much attention, partly because he plays in a position which offers few opportunities to get on the highlight reel, he played very nicely indeed.
His defensive work was strong and his passing crisp (if not as incisive as it can be at club level) but he really stood out in one-on-one situations. Whether he was on the ball or defending against a dribbler, he came out on top the vast majority of the time and underlined the tidiness and classiness of his all-round game. Currently at Trabzonspor, we expect a bigger side to snap him up before long.
8. Ermin Mahmić – Bosnia & Herzegovina
Mahmić, an attacking midfielder who plays for Slovenian side Slovan Liberec, was way off of our radar coming into the 2026 World Cup and only actually spent 72 minutes on the pitch – but scored twice in that time, making him one of the most efficient finishers in the entire tournament.
He hit the back of the net against both Qatar and Switzerland, both times taking advantage of the opposition’s failure to clear their lines from a corner. The first of the two was scrappy and deflected twice, but his consolation strike against the Swiss was sublime, a glorious effort with the outside of his boot which flew past Gregor Kobel before he could adjust. We’ll be keeping a closer eye on Mahmić in the future.
7. Nico O’Reilly – England
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O’Reilly being benched for the semi-final was probably the right decision given how well Djed Spence played at left-back, but O’Reilly cemented his place as an England regular for years to come with a mature tournament – and one in which his defensive work continued to show signs of improvement.
As impressive as he was for Manchester City over the last six months, O’Reilly was often beaten on the run by the best wingers, but that wasn’t a problem that surfaced over the summer. His one-on-one defending was rock solid, his technical prowess evident, and he was often a contributor to England’s attacking play. England may have failed to get over the line, but the 21-year-old can head home with his head held high.
6. Yan Diomande – Ivory Coast
Seemingly bound for PSG after Liverpool failed to make their case after the transfer window opened, Diomande underlined his class with a string of dynamic displays in the Ivory Coast’s four games.
Quick, able to beat defenders on both sides of the ball and ceaselessly inventive, it’s surprising that Diomande ended the tournament without a goal and with just one assist to his name, which came against minnows Curaçao – but he created a constant string of chances, including five against Ecuador, perhaps his best performance. His failure to trouble the scoresheet greatly belied his consistent excellence.
5. Desiré Doué – France
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Surprisingly left out of France’s starting line-up for the semi-final defeat to Spain, Doué menaced defences throughout the tournament whether he was in the XI or whether he came off the bench and while he only scored one goal – against Norway’s second-string side at the end of the group stages – his creativity and ability to baffle his marker was evident throughout.
The PSG winger created two chance per game on average despite the fact that he only played the full 90 minutes once, and picked up the assist for Kylian Mbappé’s opening goal against Morocco. A brilliant player and lethal in full flow, Doué was hugely impressive even if we didn’t necessarily see him at his very best.
4. Ayyoub Bouaddi – Morocco
The Lille midfielder was already being watched by a number of elite teams prior to the tournament but sparked a potentially colossal bidding war after demonstrating his control and composure on the ball from the off. He may well end up being worth £85m by the time he finally gets a seemingly inevitable move.
Brilliant against Brazil in Morocco’s opening match, Bouaddi provided a graceful and elegant link between defence and attack while reliably breaking up opposing attacks, ending his run at the World Cup with over four turnovers forced per match despite being substituted during the second half in all five of the games in which he played. A sublime talent who plays as though he’s been in the game for far longer.
3. Lamine Yamal – Spain
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This World Cup has often been described as one dominated by the established global stars of the game – but while players like Harry Kane, Lionel Messi and Mbappé have been filling their boots, Yamal will head into the final with just a single goal under his belt, the opener in a routine 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
But despite the lack of end product, Yamal has still been tormenting defences since getting over an injury which forced him to start Spain’s opening game on the bench. He looked better against Portugal, deeply dangerous against Belgium, and was exceptional in the semi-final win over France, winning a penalty with a sharp piece of play and then having a brilliant goal disallowed in the second half. Even short of his best, Yamal has been quite terrifying to watch.
2. Johan Manzambi – Switzerland
Manzambi started the tournament by warming Switzerland’s bench. He ended it as the undoubted star of a run to the quarter-finals which might have gone on longer were it not for Breel Embolo’s moment of madness – and as a future Premier League player after agreeing a big-money move to Aston Villa.
After announcing himself with a sublime brace against Bosnia & Herzegovina, Manzambi scored another excellent goal against Canada and provided assists both in that game and in the round of 16 against Algeria. Injury ruled him out of the defeat to Argentina. It might have been so different had he been able to play. One of the unexpected stars of the tournament.
1. Pau Cubarsí – Spain
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Not just the best young player of the World Cup, but one of the best players full stop. The 19-year-old Barcelona defender has played every minute of every match for Spain, allowing just a single goal along the way. Spain’s defence has been exceptional, and Cubarsí one of the main reasons.
Much of his strength comes from the unflustered way in which he ensures that he seldom puts himself in positions where he risks making a mistake. Cubarsí doesn’t make too many tackles, because he makes sure he’s in the right place at the right time to stop the ball getting to his opposite number in the first place – and he’s provided Spain with an outstanding base of possession throughout. A place in the team of the team of the tournament probably beckons. Cubarsí has been quite brilliant.