2026 World Cup Dark Horses Power Ranking ahead of Friday’s draw: Norway 2nd… | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup draw is upon us and we’ve drowned in a sea of power rankings that fail to ask the important question – who are next summer’s dark horses?

We’ve excluded the nine bookmaker’s favourites and focused on the teams with the potential to capture the hearts of neutrals worldwide.

Following in the footsteps of Ghana, Costa Rica and Morocco from recent World Cups won’t be easy. Which teams are best placed to do so?

10. Ivory Coast

Back at the finals after missing the previous two, Ivory Coast conceded zero goals in qualifying and could progress past the group stages for the first time.

Having won AFCON on home soil at the start of 2024, the West Africans are blessed with a growing number of promising young players.

Ousmane Diomande and Odilon Kossounou are two of Europe’s most in-demand centre-backs, while Simon Adringa has shown plenty of promise in the Premier League.

All the components are in place to cause a shock or two, but the Ivorians have tended to choke on the biggest stage.

9. Uruguay

Uruguay have the talent, but all bets are off with the mercurial Marcelo Bielsa at the helm.

There’s an equal chance of glory and disaster, with Uruguay capable of beating Brazil and Argentina while also losing 5-1 to a second-string United States.

Federico Valverde is a world-class midfielder, but will Darwin Nunez bring his shooting boots? And has team morale been fatally undermined by Bielsa’s treatment of Luis Suarez?

Whatever happens, Uruguay will be box-office viewing at the World Cup.

8. Canada, Mexico, United States

There’s a good chance that at least one host team will overperform next summer. Which one? We’d need a gun to our head to answer.

Mexico will be playing at the fearsome Azteca, but with arguably their weakest team since the 1970s.

Canada have the best individual in CONCACAF (Alphonso Davies) and the best striker (Jonathan David), but their World Cup pedigree is weaker than Angola’s and manager Jesse Marsch has his (ahem) limitations.

With Mauricio Pochettino finally moulding the USMNT into a cohesive unit, the smart money is on them, but it’s fair to say they are not exactly the neutral’s favourite.

Reaching the quarter-finals would probably be the States’ ceiling, but a success nonetheless.

7. Switzerland

Always 10% better than you think, Switzerland are one of Europe’s most consistent nations and have reached the knockout stages of the last six major tournaments.

They qualified with ease for the 2026 tournament, topping their qualifying group ahead of a star-studded Sweden.

The Swiss have a team packed with experienced operators like Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji.

They also have one of Europe’s finest goalkeepers in Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel, who has replaced the retired Yann Sommer between the sticks.

It wouldn’t be a major tournament without Switzerland quietly going about their business. But can they take the next step to immortality?

6. Senegal

Senegal are arguably the most stacked African team since Ivory Coast’s 2010 vintage and have beaten both England and Brazil in recent years.

Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly are still there, supported by the likes of Nicolas Jackson, Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaila Sarr, Pape Matar Sarr and El Hadji Malick Diouf.

If the draw favours them, Senegal could match their 2002 side and reach the quarter-finals. It’s been too long since a West African team caught the imagination at a World Cup.

5. Ecuador

Ecuador have a watertight defence and Moises Caicedo patrolling the midfield in front – but without any attackers of note, relying on Enner Valencia to defy the passage of time.

We’re getting Paraguay 1998 vibes from them, a team that valiantly tried to win the World Cup without scoring a goal.

And we’re definitely getting visions of England stumbling to a 1-1 draw against them in an awful match marked by Cole Palmer getting substituted with heatstroke.

4. Japan

Part of the World Cup furniture having reached every edition since 1998, Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2026 finals back in March and beat Brazil in a recent friendly.

The Japanese are regularly pumping out top players who are both technically proficient and tactically adept.

By far the best team in Asia, Japan beat both Spain and Germany in the last World Cup and will be aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in 2026.

There’s a danger they’ve peaked between tournaments as they did between 2010 and 2014, but Japan have every chance of breaking new ground next summer.

3. Colombia

Colombia were runners-up at the most recent Copa America and avenged their final defeat to Argentina by beating the world champions months later.

Bolstered by the renaissance of James Rodriguez, Colombia also boast a healthy smattering of familiar names including Luis Diaz, Daniel Munoz and prolific super sub Jhon Duran.

After somehow missing out on Qatar 2022, the Colombians qualified comfortably and are always a welcome presence at World Cups. Can they live up to the hype?

2. Norway

Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard are the headline pair, but Norway have an increasing pool of players in Europe’s top five leagues and thumped Italy twice to reach their first World Cup since 1998.

They are in danger of being overrated, similar to Belgium’s trajectory before the 2014 finals, and we can’t help but feel the climate might preclude their chances of going far.

We also haven’t forgotten that fellow Scandinavians Denmark were everyone’s outside tip before the last World Cup, only to finish bottom of their group.

Despite their presence in pot three, Norway have the capability to bloody a few noses and Haaland will fancy himself to win the Golden Boot.

1. Morocco

After reaching the semi-finals last time around, Morocco are the pride of African football and have arguably got stronger since.

Exciting young attackers Bilal El Khannouss, Amine Adli and Eliesse Ben Seghir have strengthened the Moroccan attack, while Brahim Diaz has switched allegiance from Spain to the North Africans.

The trademark defensive diligence remains, making Morocco a formidable opponent, while success at youth tournaments suggests an increasing talent pool.