World Cup 2030 Way-Too-Early Power Rankings: Who is No. 1? - ESPN

It has been a little over a week since the 2026 World Cup ended, with Spain defeating Argentina 1-0 in a gritty, attritional battle to claim their second title. All of the confetti has been swept up, and the grass turf in some stadiums across the U.S. swiftly ripped up ahead of the 2026 NFL season, which leaves us in a real funk.

How are we going to make it four years until the next edition? By doing another Power Rankings, of course.

As we did at several points before and during the World Cup — from 100 days out to after the round of 16 — we're looking at how our global reporters feel about the tournament from a contenders vs. pretenders perspective. But this time, we're looking to the future, a full World Cup qualifying cycle ahead, to rank the top end of the field in 2030.

Our panel of 19 reporters was asked to rank the entire FIFA landscape from No. 1 (meaning the trophy is theirs) to No. 15 (the cool outsider's pick for a tournament shock), with their ballots compiled into the collective ranking below.

— FIFA rank: 1
— World Cup 2026 finish: Champions

With 15 of 19 first-place voters, our panel were nearly unanimous in selecting the 2026 champs as its top choice to dominate four years from now, and it's not hard to see why.

Despite a slow start and a 0-0 draw with Cinderella story Cape Verde to open the tournament,La Roja slowly eased through the gears and gave up only one goal in eight games to take the crown. Oh, and they barely needed teen phenom Lamine Yamal to do it: The Barcelona star came into the competition with an injury and had his minutes carefully managed.

That's why everyone loves Spain — they simply have the quality and the depth to always be competitive. Furthermore, they can navigate injuries