Top 10 Players That Will Miss 2026 World Cup

Charlie Zschau Updated: May 12 2026 20:39

The World Cup is known to feature the best players in the world, but these are the best 10 players who's national teams did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Even with an expanded 48-team tournament in 2026, the World Cup will be without some of the greatest talents in the world.

Italy and Nigeria are the two best teams that were unable to secure qualification, and they deploy some of the best players at their respective positions.

Fans around the globe will be without the impressive shot stopping of Gianluigi Donnaruma, the playmaking of Dominik Szoboszlai, and the clinical finishing of Robert Lewandowski and Victor Osimhen just to name a few.

We'll rank the best players who's nations did not qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

Top 10 Players Not at the 2026 World Cup

10. Ilya Zabarnyi (Ukraine)

Club Team: PSG
Position: Central Defender
Age: 23

Ilya Zabarnyi is a top defender playing for PSG and Ukraine. The 23-year-old profiles as a player who's game will develop even better with age. He's an athletic defender who has great long-ball passing abilities from defense.

Zabarnyi led Ukraine in successful long balls per match (5.0), and had the second most accurate passes per 90 minutes (53.6) in 2025/26 World Cup qualifying matches.

Zabarnyi has scored six total goals in his professional career, with half of them coming for Ukraine while playing less than a quarter of his total professional games for his nation.

9. Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)

Club Team: Atletico Madrid
Position: Attacking Midfielder / Forward / Winger
Age: 28

Ademola Lookman as a very versatile attacking play, with the ability to play as an attacking midfielder, striker, and winger. Lookman's is a late bloomer, with his first standout season coming in 2023, when he was 25 years old.

Since 2023, he has blossomed into a fantastic goal scorer, and bagged the third most goals in Serie A in 2024/25 with Atalanta. Lookman is particularly an elite chance creator, generating scoring opportunities for both himself and his teammates.

With Nigeria, he has scored 11 goals and assisted 10 times in 43 games.

8. Federico Dimarco (Italy)

Club Team: Inter Milan
Position: Left Midfielder / Fullback
Age: 28

Federico Dimarco is not just one of the best box-to-box wide players not at the world cup, he is also one of the best in the world period.

Dimarco began his professional career as a fullback, but his crossing ability makes him the perfect attacking wingback. For Italy, Dimarco has scored three goals and assisted 10 times in 38 career matches.

As of April 2, 2026, Dimarco has twice as many assists in Serie A (14) as the the players with the second most assists in the league.

7. Alessandro Bastoni (Italy)

Club Team: Inter Milan
Position: Central Defender
Age: 26

Alessandro Bastoni is one of, if not the best Italian defender at the moment for a nation with a long history of having some of the best defenders in the world.

The Inter Milan center back made his Italian debut in 2020, and has played 43 matches since. Bastoni is a big, physical defender who can also created chances for his forwards by playing long balls over the top of defenses.

Italy's problem in World Cup qualification has not been their defense, so Bastoni should still be considered a top talent on the International level.

6. Sandro Tonali (Italy)

Club Team: Newcastle United
Position: Central Midfielder
Age: 25

Tonali, 25, made his Italian National Team debut at just 19-years-old, and has been a relatively consisted player for them since. He has only made 32 appearances.

Applying his trade t Newcastle United in England, Tonali is a very complete midfielder. He is elite ball-winner, has a lot of defensive intelligence, and can make plays moving forward. He is not know for scoring goals, but he is great at dictating tempo and making field-changing passes that cut through defensive lines.

5. Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)

Club Team: Galatasaray
Position: Striker
Age: 27

Victor Osimhen is the only player on this list that is not currently playing in one of Europe's top-5 leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, or Ligue 1).

Another member of Napoli's 2022/23 Scudetto winning team, Osimhen and was widely considered as one of the greatest strikers in the World. Osimhem wanted out of Napoli in 2024, and opted to join Turkish giants, Galatasaray.

The 27-year-old has continued to fill up the score sheet in Turkey, and is one of the most clinical players at the position. For Nigeria, Osimhen has scored 35 goals in just 45 games played.

4. Robert Lewandowski (Poland)

Club Team: Barcelona
Position: Striker
Age: 37

With 2026 likely Robert Lewandowski's last opportunity to play in a World Cup, it's a highly unfortunate case that Poland misses the tournament. Poland were eliminated in the UEFA Play-off final against Sweden, coming up just short.

Lewandowski has been the Polish talisman since 2008, scoring 88 goals in 165 matches. He led his nation to two World Cups in his career (2018, 2022) but will be 41-years-old when the 2030 World Cup heads to Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

3. Gianluigi Donnaruma (Italy)

Club Team: Manchester City
Position: Goalkeeper
Age: 27

Gianluigi Donnarumma is arguably the greatest goalkeeper in the world right now, and made his Italy debut in 2016 at just 17 years old. Donnarumma made a career high 10-saves against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but Italy came up short in a penalty shootout, failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Unfortunately for Donnarumma, Italy have now missed their third consecutive World Cup, and he may not be able to make his World Cup debut until 14 years after starting his first game for his country.

Read the scale of Italy missing the 2026 World Cup here.

2. Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary)

Club Team: Liverpool
Position: Midfielder
Age: 25

Dominik Szoboszlai has become one of the most underrated players in the Premier League this year, and would likely make it into ever countries World Cup squad. He is very adaptable, and can play multiple positions in the midfield and in attack.

At 25-years-old, Szoboszlai still has a lot of room to grow, but his quality on the ball and precision already make him one of the best player that will not be at the 2026 World Cup in North America.

Szoboszlai and his Liverpool teammate Milos Kerkez were not enough to get Hungary to the World Cup this year, but look out for the them to make a run at the 2030 tournament.

1. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia)

Club Team: PSG
Position: Winger / Forward
Age: 25

A major contributor to Georgia's golden generation, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has become of one the best dribblers in the world. The Georgian helped lift the Scudetto with Napoli in 2022/23 for the first time in over 30 years, and earned a big money move to PSG in 2025.

Kvaratskhelia now plays alongside Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue, in PSG's attack, and rotates around the front three. He was a major contributor to Paris' UEFA Champions League winning campaign in 2025, scoring three goals and assisting twice in nine games.

For Georgia, Kvaratskhelia has scored 22 goals in 49 appearances. His national team has never qualified for a World Cup, but their golden generation could be able to change that in 2030.