World Cup final squads ranked: Of all 48 national teams, who can win this summer? - ESPN

Finally, we have arrived.

The World Cup starts in a little over a week, and every team has finalized its 26-man squad. We know every country that will be participating in the World Cup, and we also know — barring last-minute injuries — every player who will be participating in the World Cup.

Now that the deadline for teams to submit their rosters has passed and FIFA has the final squads, let's again rank the World Cup teams based on a formula that combines performance and talent:

• For performance, we're using the World Football Elo ratings, a results-based rating system that takes into account match importance, final scoreline and opponent quality.

• For talent, we've used the crowd-sourced estimated market values of each team, via the website Transfermarkt.

Each metric gets weighed equally, and then the combination of the two factors produces each team's ranking.

So, one last time, before the tournament begins, let us rank the 48 teams participating in the 2026 World Cup.

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When I was writing about the history of World Cup favorites being sent home during the group stages, I was reminded of one favorite who never actually even made the tournament. In 2002, the Netherlands didn't qualify for the World Cup despite being… the second-highest rated team in the Elo rankings.

At the 1998 World Cup, they lost to Brazil in a shootout in the semifinals. At Euro 2000, they beat defending World Cup champs and eventual Euro winners France in the group stages, obliterated Yugoslavia 6-1 in the quarterfinals, and then lost to Italy on penalties in the semifinals. In World