Algeria, Austria, Jordan: five things about Argentina’s 2026 rivals

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·5 December 2025

Algeria, Austria, Jordan: five things about Argentina’s 2026 rivals

Algeria, Austria, and Jordan will be Argentina’s rivals in Group J of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Here are the first key details to start getting to know them.

Algeria

Ranked 35th in the FIFA rankings, they won their group in the African Qualifiers comfortably, but secured qualification when they defeated Somalia last October.
This will be their fifth World Cup, having been affected by the aforementioned controversy in ’82, with their best performance in Brazil 2014, when they forced extra time in the Round of 16 against a powerful Germany that would go on to become champions.
Vladimir Petkovic is the coach, a Bosnian who favors a 4-3-3 formation and replaced Djamel Belmadi, who had won the Africa Cup of Nations but failed on the road to Qatar.
Their star player is Riyad Mahrez, a dynamic winger with the experience of his 34 years, currently at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, but formerly of the Leicester team that won the Premier League and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Another standout is Mohamed El Amine Amoura, from Wolfsburg, a forward who also creates danger on the flanks, gets into the box, and scores plenty of goals.

Austria

Although they started with five straight wins, the 24th-ranked team in the FIFA rankings barely qualified in the European Qualifiers after a tense draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina on the final matchday.
They haven’t played in a World Cup for over 20 years, since France 1998. Their best performance was in Switzerland 1954, when they finished third. They were also involved in the controversial arrangement to lose 1-0 to West Germany in Spain ’82, which led to rule changes.
Their coach is Ralf Rangnick, an experienced German who took over in 2022 after a brief stint—less than a year—at Manchester United. He has implemented high pressing, intensity, and quick transitions, with players he coached in the Bundesliga.
They are coming off a surprising Euro 2024, where they topped a group shared with France and the Netherlands but were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Turkey.
The key player in their 4-2-3-1 system is Christoph Baumgartner, a 26-year-old attacking midfielder at RB Leipzig. Other standouts include David Alaba (Real Madrid defender) and Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund midfielder).

Jordan

They qualified for their first World Cup after a tough journey through the Asian Qualifiers, which took a positive turn with an away draw against South Korea. Last March, after beating Oman, they secured their ticket with a match to spare.
Currently ranked 66th in the FIFA rankings, they had come close to qualifying for Brazil 2014: they reached the playoffs, where they were thrashed by Uruguay (0-5 at home, and 0-0 in Montevideo). Now, with 48 teams, they qualified directly.
Their coach is Jamal Sellami, who played little to none for Morocco in France 1998 but is, of course, the only one with World Cup experience among them. He managed to forge a solid and hardworking team that relied on counterattacks and won.
Musa Al-Taamari, the number 10 and Rennes player, is their main attacking threat. He’s described as a fast and agile attacking midfielder, crucial for Jordan’s counterattacks, which Argentina will need to watch out for.
This is an unprecedented opponent for Argentina, who do have a history—at least in friendlies—with Austria (one win and one draw) and Algeria (one victory).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.