By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-06-11 08:14:05 | Updated at 2026-06-13 22:47:06
2 days ago
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup beginning on Thursday, we’ve identified eight young players who could be breakthrough stars if given the opportunity.
The big kick-off is almost upon us. The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on Thursday as the biggest iteration in the tournament’s history prepares to dominate news cycles and conversations across the globe.
Every tournament brings with it breakthrough stars who announce themselves to the mainstream, and ahead of Thursday’s opening game between Mexico and South Africa at the Azteca, we’ve had a go and predicting who might cause a stir.
Here are our eight breakthrough contenders…
Gilberto Mora
Mexico
The youngest player at the 2026 World Cup, there are few under-21 talents who’ll have more attention on them this summer than Mexico‘s Gilberto Mora.
A recent contract extension with his club, Xolos de Tijuana, seems to have cooled talk of interest from Real Madrid for the time being, but Mora, 17, is primed to catch the eye at the World Cup.
A creative and intelligent attacking midfielder who is still growing, Mora has earned comparisons with players like Pedri and Andrés Iniesta, while there is more than a hint of Kaka about him when he glides forward. Although tough acts to live up to, the young Mexican so far appears to have handled his emergence in a mature manner.
That tallies nicely with his style on the pitch. Good in tight spaces and an accomplished dribbler, Mora isn’t needlessly flashy or immature, instead prioritising the right decision.
He broke into the Xolos first-team as a 15-year-old, and on 28 June last year he became the youngest player to ever represent Mexico, four months before his 17th birthday.
Mora missed a chunk of the second half of the 2025-26 Liga MX season due to pubalgia but is likely to be a prominent figure for Mexico at the World Cup, even if just from the bench.
Mexican football has incredibly high hopes for Mora; he’ll be aiming to show why.
Musab Al-Juwayr
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia forward Musab Al-Juwayr could be a player to keep a close eye on during the action in Group H, as he’ll be testing himself against the might of Spain and Uruguay (and the less mighty Cape Verde).
Starting two of their three World Cup warm-up games as a second striker in the past two weeks, Al-Juwayr played a very different role for his club side Al Qadsiah this season. Just 16% of his playing time came as a main striker or in the number 10 role, with the majority of his league minutes (79%) seeing him deployed in central midfield.
Only Khalid Al Ghannam (19) had more goal involvements among Saudi players in the 2025-26 Pro League than Al-Juwayr (17), who scored six times and assisted his teammates for 11 more. Those 11 assists saw him rank fourth in the league overall, while only Portugal international João Félix (66) created more open-play chances than the Al Qadsiah star (64).
Coached in the second half of 2025-26 by Brendan Rodgers, his impressive statistics earned him the prestigious Saudi Player of the Season award in the league as the most impressive homegrown talent, a year after picking up the Young Player of the Season award in the Saudi Pro League.
Kerim Alajbegovic
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia-Herzegovina may not be one of the countries neutrals rush to watch this summer, but those who do will almost certainly have their day brightened by the talents of Kerim Alajbegovic.
The 18-year-old left winger has bags of ability and plenty of confidence to go with it.
Set to return to Bayer Leverkusen from Red Bull Salzburg after a buy-back clause was triggered, Alajbegovic played a huge role in Bosnia qualifying for their first World Cup in 12 years, providing the cross from which Edin Dzeko netted an equaliser against Wales in their play-off, before going on to score the decisive penalty in the shootout.
Alajbegovic is a real livewire on the ball; his 112 dribble attempts in the Austrian Bundesliga was the fourth most, and he frequently used his direct style of play in dangerous areas, tallying 56 carries ending in either a shot or chance created, 16 more than any other player in the division.
In a tight Group B that doesn’t really have an outstanding favourite, his explosiveness could be a decisive weapon.
Yan Diomande
Ivory Coast
We might be being a bit liberal by including Yan Diomande in this list, but for most people who don’t watch German football, the 2026 World Cup will likely bring the first opportunity to see him in action.
He’s already been one of the most talked-about players in the world this summer from a transfer perspective, and unless a team ties him up quickly, interest could mount during the tournament.
Diomande’s rise has been meteoric. He only played a few games in La Liga for Leganés before RB Leipzig made a move for him last summer, and he enjoyed a debut season to remember in the Bundesliga.
Among teenagers in the big five European leagues, only Lamine Yamal recorded more goal involvements in 2025-26 (27) than his 20.
Key factors behind that output were attributes like explosive acceleration, brilliant control and supreme confidence – ranking behind only Yamal (265) and Vinícius Júnior (218) for dribbles in the top five leagues (213) highlights his self-belief.
The Ivory Coast squad is brimming with quality, and Diomande will be among their most important players.
Ayyoub Bouaddi
Morocco
Morocco aren’t short of talented young players, but arguably chief among them in their 2026 World Cup squad is Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Born in France and a regular international for them at various age-group levels, Bouaddi switched his allegiance in May, with Morocco pulling off something of a coup.
Although only 18, Bouaddi has been a regular for Lille for each of the past two seasons, having made his debut three days after his 16th birthday in October 2023 – coincidentally, that made him the youngest player to ever play in a European club competition (UEFA Conference League) at the time.
Nominally a defensive midfielder, Bouaddi is a fine dribbler and ball carrier, while he reads the game well and knows how to use his considerable frame, hence commendable numbers in duels – only 10 Ligue 1 midfielders (100+ duels contested) had a better success rate in duels than him (55.6%) this season, and he was at least two years younger than all of those above him.
Similarly, among all Ligue 1 players to attempt 50+ ‘true tackles’ (rewards defenders for getting a touch on the ball even if their opponents retain possession, and penalises those who commit fouls when making a challenge), his 64.8% success rate was well above the average of 57.4%.
He may not start the tournament, but he looks destined for a long career at the top.
Mbekezeli Mbokazi
South Africa
The Chicago Fire have already acknowledged they won’t be able to keep Mbekezeli Mbokazi for long, such has been his impact since joining from Orlando Pirates in December.
Although the 20-year-old may not be the tallest centre-back around, he more than makes up for any shortfall in that respect with his sheer strength and ability to come out on top in one-on-one confrontations.
Among all outfielders with 300+ minutes under their belts in MLS this season, only two can better Mbokazi’s 72.7% success rate in duels.
His output is even better when it comes to ‘true tackles’ – no one to have contested at least 20 tops his 87.5% true-tackle success rate.
Despite being such a newcomer to the competition, Mbokazi has already been named in the 2026 MLS All-Star first XI at centre-back following the combined vote of fans, players and media representatives.
Former Chelsea captain John Terry is seemingly a fan as well, and there’s every chance he’ll alert a few more to his talents at the World Cup.
If South Africa can get through a Group A that looks unpredictable, Mbokazi will have almost certainly made a telling contribution or two, and he’ll hope to make a promising start in the tournament opener against Mexico on Thursday.
Keisuke Goto
Japan
When you think of Japanese footballers, slight technicians probably come to mind before lanky centre-forwards. In a sense, Keisuke Goto could stand out simply for that.
The 21-year-old goes into the tournament on the back of a promising season in the Belgian Pro League, recording 18 goal involvements (11 goals, 7 assists) for Sint-Truidense on loan from Anderlecht.
Goto more than played his part in STVV finishing the season third, 10 points clear of his parent club (more on that relationship shortly…), with his ability to find good positions in attack allowing him to maximise arguably underwhelming service on the whole.
For instance, his 62 shots for the season was fairly modest, but no player to attempt more than 12 bettered his 0.22 xG average per attempt, highlighting his positional quality.
There are still some doubts about his finishing, but he is young and has time on his side. Either way, the promise is there.
Don’t expect him to start for Japan this summer, but his strengths align nicely with the way Hajime Moriyasu’s side played in qualifying; their 225 open-play crosses was second only to Qatar in the AFC qualifying section, and their 12 headed goals was four more than anyone else.
Goto should be a decent alternative to Ayase Ueda or Koki Ogawa, and he may be desperate to impress for a potential move away from Anderlecht, where he is not a particularly popular figure after rather elaborate celebrations when he scored against and beat them in April.
Mohamed Touré
Australia
Mohamed Touré is one of a few exciting youngsters heading to the 2026 World Cup with Australia. While much of the attention may be drawn to Nestory Irankunda in the impact-player stakes, it might be the Norwich City striker who becomes one of the biggest goal threats at the tournament.
He only joined the Canaries in February, signing from Danish Superliga side Randers FC, but he took little time to adjust to life in English club football. It took only 27 minutes, in fact.
After coming on as a second-half substitute to make his Norwich debut against Blackburn Rovers on 7 February, Touré scored the goal to cap off a 2-0 win at Carrow Road. Then, just three days later, he scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win at Oxford United and then scored another in the win over West Brom.
A minor injury kept him out of action in March, but he came back to score five goals in his final four appearances of 2025-26 for the Canaries, including another hat-trick in the 4-2 away win at Bristol City in mid-April.
Despite only making his Championship debut in Norwich’s 31st game of the league season, he was the only player to score more than one hat-trick in the competition this season. He also averaged the best minutes-per-goal ratio of anyone to score more than once (66 mins).
His only two goals so far for Australia came in a 3-1 win over New Zealand in September, but if his last few months at club level are anything to go by, he’ll be one to watch in North America over the upcoming weeks.
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