We’re stupidly predicting nine break-out stars of the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

The World Cup presents a stage for up-and-coming talent to announce their presence to a global audience, establishing themselves as the breakout stars of the tournament.

It also offers the chance for those predicting who said break-out stars will be to get it horribly wrong. But we’ve given it a pop anyway.

We’re not counting someone like Lamine Yamal, who may be young but has very much already broken out; he could win the Ballon d’Or, FFS.

Instead, these nine players all have a chance of putting themselves in the spotlight this summer.

Yan Diomande (Ivory Coast)

You will have seen Diomande’s name a lot in the gossip columns. But unless you’re an avid Bundesliga follower, you might not have actually watched him play that much.

This time last year, Diomande hadn’t even made his senior debut for Ivory Coast. Since then, he’s joined RB Leipzig from Leganes, scored 12 Bundesliga goals and netted on each of his first two international appearances.

Still only 19, the winger looks set to be one of the big names of the transfer window – linked with Liverpool among others, potentially for a nine-figure fee – but has a World Cup to focus on first.

Ivory Coast are at their first World Cup since 2014, in a group with Germany, Ecuador and Curacao. It’s not inconceivable that they can get out of it, especially if Diomande turns up.

Ayyoub Bouaddi (Morocco)

Bouaddi switched allegiance from France to Morocco in May, just in time to be included in their World Cup squad. Opportunistic.

It comes after three seasons in the Lille first team, during which he’s amassed almost 100 appearances – and he’s still only 18.

Confident on the ball, the midfielder has already played in all three European competitions during his fledgling career.

He could turn out to be someone France ultimately regret losing, but now has a chance to make a name for himself with a Morocco side that dreamed big at the last World Cup.

Endrick (Brazil)

Okay, we all know who Endrick is. We know he struggled in his first year with Real Madrid. But after ending last season on loan at Lyon and doing rather better, a good World Cup could be the 19-year-old’s springboard into becoming an important player back at the Bernabeu as a new era under Jose Mourinho takes shape.

Endrick scored his first international goal in almost exactly two years in Brazil’s 2-1 World Cup warm-up win over Egypt.

It’s hard to see him starting at the World Cup, but then again, Brazil don’t have too many obvious centre-forwards in his way.

At some point that potential is going to have to turn into proof of ability at the top level. What better time to start that process than at the World Cup?

Kerim Alajbegovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Alajbegovic has just completed a breakthrough season with Red Bull Salzburg, scoring 13 goals from 44 games, to earn a move back to Bayer Leverkusen.

Born in Germany, the winger plays for Bosnia and Herzegovina at international level. He played a big part in them qualifying, too; he assisted Edin Dzeko’s equaliser against Wales in the play-off semi-final before scoring a penalty in both that game’s shootout and that of the play-off final against Italy.

Can Bosnia get out of a group in which they’ll face Canada, Qatar and Switzerland? Quite possibly.

And while they’ll be mainly relying on a 40-year-old in the shape of Dzeko, they’ll have someone younger than half his age inspiring them too.

Gilberto Mora (Mexico)

The youngest player at the World Cup, Mora isn’t just going with co-hosts Mexico for a learning experience. At 17, he’s expected to be one of their starters.

He already has 10 goals from 53 appearances for Tijuana at club level and started the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, which Mexico won against the USA.

An attacking midfielder, Mora is a prodigy in Mexico and could well have a future further afield. This will be his first genuine chance to showcase his talent to the wider world.

Rayan (Brazil)

2026 has been quite the year so far for Rayan. He earned a Premier League move in January, joining a Bournemouth side he is still yet to lose a league game with.

In addition to his five goals from 15 games for his new club, Rayan gained his first Brazil cap in April, and then scored his first international goal the following month.

As with Endrick, he won’t be likely to get many starts for Brazil, but with the way he’s taken everything in his stride so far this year, you wouldn’t want to rule out him having some kind of impact.

Nico Paz (Uruguay)

The crown jewel of the Como side that have reached the Champions League, it’s generally presumed that Paz will have a future back at Real Madrid.

Like Diomande, he’s the kind of player whose name you might know without ever actually watching him play.

Included in the Argentina squad – just like his father Pablo for the 1998 World Cup – after a 12-goal season in Serie A, Paz won’t be the big fish in a small pond like he is at club level, but will want to prove he’s up to the elite standard if he is indeed bound back for Madrid.

A gifted playmaker, Paz was named the best midfielder in Serie A this season.

Matias Fernandez-Pardo (Belgium)

Eligible for either Spain or Belgium, Fernandez-Pardo thought his international career would be with the former until his country of birth offered him a chance at this World Cup.

The Lille forward, who can play as a winger or through the middle, scored eight goals this season.

He’ll still be finding his place in the Belgium team, but has started to be spoken of as one to watch – potentially in the transfer window as well.

Luka Vuskovic (Croatia)

Tottenham latched onto Vuskovic’s potential at an early age, agreeing a future deal to sign him when he was only 16.

It formally went through last summer after he turned 18, but Spurs are still yet to see Vuskovic in action for them.

That doesn’t mean he’s been wasting time, twiddling his thumbs. While on loan with Hamburg this season, Vuskovic has been one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga.

Croatia have gone deep at the past two World Cups, so he will be hoping to hold his own in a competitive side this summer.