Gary Lineker names the two teams ahead of England as 2026 World Cup favourites | OneFootball

England legend Gary Lineker has named two teams that he thinks are ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s side as favourites for the 2026 World Cup this summer.

Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, Lineker made it clear that he rates Spain as the favourites for the tournament.

Spain won Euro 2024, beating England in the final, and they’re currently top of the FIFA World Rankings, so their status as the team to beat makes sense.

Lineker is currently backing Spain, and has France as his second favourites for the trophy, with England in third.

The pundit also mentioned current World Cup holders Argentina as one to watch, as well as five-time winners Brazil.

Gary Lineker on 2026 World Cup favourites

“The World Cup is getting very close now,” Lineker said.

“I know Spain are actually the bookies’ favourites, closely followed by England, France, Argentina and Brazil. I think they’re the big five.

“France have got a hell of a squad, haven’t they? They have an amazing squad, but I’m going to go with Spain.

“I think they could do a repeat of what they did a decade or so ago and win consecutive tournaments. I mean, they’ve got some players, Spain.

“I think Spain have to be the team to beat, Obviously, we’d all love England to win. Portugal could be a decent outside bet as well.

“They will have to control the narrative around [Cristiano] Ronaldo and manage his minutes and see if he accepts that. That will be important for them.

“But they have got some cracking players. I think it’s a good outside bet, Portugal. Also, don’t rule out Argentina and even Brazil.

“But I’m going with Spain. England are definitely one of the frontrunners but I think Spain have to be favourites ahead of us, personally I think France too.

“I think in recent tournaments, the English team has progressed sufficiently to have a chance of winning it. But I can’t remember any of us actually predicting England to win a tournament for a while.”

Can England win the World Cup?

England made great progress under previous manager Gareth Southgate, reaching the World Cup semi-finals back in 2018, and then two European Championship finals.

Still, the Three Lions are without a trophy since the 1966 World Cup, and there’s a lot of world class competition heading into this year’s tournament.

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact Tuchel can have now that he’s replaced Southgate as manager, with the German tactician overseeing a very strong qualifying campaign.

Tuchel has also won major trophies at club level, including the Champions League with Chelsea, and league titles with both Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.