World Cup 2026 Team of the Tournament: The Official Best XI

The World Cup 2026 Team of the Tournament is confirmed — though, as with most tournaments, “confirmed” needs a small asterisk. FIFA’s own fan-voted Best XI includes one genuine surprise pick that several other respected outlets left out in favour of the player who actually won the Golden Glove. We’ve covered both below.

Last updated: 10 August 2026 — updated with the confirmed result following the World Cup final.

The Official FIFA Fan XI

This XI was decided by a fan vote rather than FIFA’s Technical Study Group, which explains a couple of its more sentimental picks. It spans seven nations, with champions Spain and France both contributing three players each, Argentina two, and England and Norway one apiece.

The Vozinha Surprise

The one pick that genuinely split opinion: Cape Verde’s Vozinha at goalkeeper, ahead of Golden Glove winner Unai Simón. It’s a fitting reward for one of the tournament’s best underdog stories — Cape Verde reaching the knockout stage for the first time, with Vozinha producing a string of heroic saves along the way, including in their Round of 32 penalty shootout.

But it’s worth knowing this pick isn’t universal. Several other respected “Team of the Tournament” selections — including IFFHS’s official statistical XI and multiple sports outlets’ own editorial picks — went with Simón instead, on the straightforward logic that the actual Golden Glove winner, who conceded only once all tournament, is hard to leave out on merit. Both views are defensible; FIFA’s fan vote simply leaned toward the better story.

How Our Prediction Fared

Our original predicted XI — built around Unai Simón, Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsí, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Tagliafico, Rodri, Alexis Mac Allister, Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Mikel Oyarzabal — got four names right: Porro, Rodri, Messi and Mbappé.

Where we missed: we underestimated France’s overall depth, leaving out both Dayot Upamecano and Michael Olise entirely, and we had no room for England’s Jude Bellingham or Norway’s Erling Haaland, both of whom made the final XI. We also leaned heavily on Argentina’s back line (Romero, Tagliafico) and midfield (Mac Allister), none of whom made the official team, while Cucurella and Lisandro Martínez — who did make it — weren’t on our radar at all.

See our full World Cup 2026 results recap for every match and every award winner in one place.