2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi names the tournament favorites | OneFootball

Argentine

On the eve of the 2026 World Cup draw, Lionel Messi has revealed his favorite teams for the competition.

Tomorrow, FIFA will hold the draw for the 2026 World Cup edition. The Argentinians, who have since claimed another Copa America title, are understandably among the favorites. But according to Lionel Messi, Argentina's rivals will be even stronger than they were four years ago.

"There are some very good teams, like Spain, France once again, England, Brazil—who haven't been champions for a while and are hungry to win it—as well as Germany," he explained in an interview with ESPN.

Messi went on to discuss the challenges of such a tournament: “A World Cup is very tough; any team can make things difficult for you, can knock you out. The ball can hit the post and go out or in, you can lose on penalties. Last World Cup, we were lucky—even though we dominated both the Netherlands and France, we had to go to penalties, and there we had the beast ‘Dibu’ (Martínez) who won it for us.”

On his participation, LM10 answered: "I hope I can be there. I've already said that I would love to be there. In the end, I'll be there to watch it live, but it's going to be special. The World Cup is special for everyone, for all countries, especially for us who experience it differently than others."