The World Cup will be bigger than ever, but without a series of major stars
The 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico will bring together 48 national teams for the first time, but the expanded format has not removed one of the harshest sporting consequences of qualification: some of the best-known footballers will remain outside the biggest stage. According to FIFA's explanation of the new competition system, the tournament is expanding from 32 to 48 teams, arranged in 12 groups of four national teams. The knockout phase will include the two best national teams from each group and the eight best third-placed teams, which means that the final stage will be broader than at any previous World Cup. Still, the official list of participants shows that the larger number of places was not enough for all the major national teams and all the major individuals. According to the situation available on 3 June 2026, among the most prominent names who will not play at the tournament are Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Robert Lewandowski, Jan Oblak, Dominik Szoboszlai and Dušan Vlahović.
The expansion of the competition is especially important because it changed the political and sporting picture of World Cup qualifying. All continental confederations received more places, and for the first time national teams that had previously regularly remained on the edge of qualification also made it to the tournament. FIFA's list of qualified national teams confirms that the finals have been opened to new debutants and returning teams, but at the same time shows that the qualifiers remained extremely selective. In Europe the pressure was still the greatest because of the depth of the competition, while in Africa and South America very narrow margins, play-offs and penalties proved decisive. That is why the list of absences speaks not only about individual disappointments, but also about how demanding the road to the World Cup remained despite the record number of places.
Italy out of the tournament again, for the third time in a row
The biggest symbol of the failure of the qualifying cycle remains Italy, the four-time world champion that will miss a third consecutive World Cup. According to FIFA, this is the first case in the history of the competition that a former world champion has missed three consecutive editions of the tournament. The Italian defeat in the European play-off was especially painful because it came at the final step, after the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica. UEFA announced that the match ended 1:1, and Bosnia and Herzegovina reached the World Cup through better penalty taking, 4:1 overall. For Italy, that meant the continuation of a crisis that has lasted since the failed qualifying campaigns for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, although the national team meanwhile won the European Championship in 2021.
That outcome leaves out of the tournament a whole series of players who, by quality and experience, would belong at the very top of the global showpiece. Gianluigi Donnarumma will not be in goal at the World Cup, Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Barella will be left without the chance to lead the Italian midfield, while Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco are missing the opportunity to transfer their club and national-team form onto the global stage. According to UEFA data, Bastoni was sent off before the end of the first half in the play-off final against Bosnia and Herzegovina, which made Italy's attempt to preserve the lead and secure qualification even more difficult. FIFA also carried the statement of head coach Gennaro Gattuso that the elimination was extremely difficult to accept, which well describes the scale of disappointment in a country that for decades was one of the permanent pillars of world football.
The Italian case shows that expanding the format does not in itself guarantee rescue for traditional powers. UEFA qualifying for the 2026 World Cup ended with the European play-offs, in which the additional tickets were won by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Türkiye and Czechia. This means that other strong national teams, including Poland and Denmark, also remained outside the tournament in the key matches. For Italy, however, the difference in perception is the greatest because this is not a one-off failure, but a third consecutive missed tournament. In sporting terms, the absence of Donnarumma, Tonali, Barella, Bastoni and Dimarco also reduces the individual quality of the finals, especially in the phase in which matches of the highest level are expected.
Lewandowski remains without probably his last chance
Poland reached the final obstacle in the additional qualifiers, but according to UEFA's report lost 3:2 to Sweden in the play-off final. Sweden thereby secured qualification for the tournament, while Poland was left without a place in North America. That defeat is especially linked to Robert Lewandowski, one of the most successful strikers of his generation, who was 37 years old at the time of the qualifying finale. Considering that the next World Cup is played in 2030, it is realistic that this was his last major chance for another appearance at the most important national-team tournament. According to match reports, Poland came back into the match twice, but did not withstand the finish against Sweden.
Lewandowski has already played at the World Cup, but his national-team career has often been marked by the imbalance between his personal class and the team's reach. Poland has had enough individual quality in recent cycles to be competitive, but not enough stability to regularly pass the hardest qualifying obstacles. In the new tournament format there would have been more space for national teams that are not among the absolute favourites, so Poland's absence is further emphasized. Sweden, according to UEFA, reached qualification with a victory in the closing stage of the match, thereby taking a place that had both sporting and symbolic significance for Poland. Without Lewandowski, the championship remains without one of the few strikers whose career can be measured through a continuity of goals at the highest level lasting more than a decade.
Nigeria without Osimhen and Lookman after drama in the African play-off
One of the hardest absences outside Europe concerns Nigeria, a national team that in the past was often an important representative of African football at World Cups. According to the Confederation of African Football, DR Congo beat Nigeria 4:3 after penalties in the African play-off final, after the match had ended 1:1 after extra time. Nigeria thereby lost its last possibility of staying in the race for the finals, while DR Congo continued its path toward the inter-confederation play-off. CAF emphasized in its report that Nigeria had a strong start to the match, but failed to turn its early advantage and periods of pressure into final progression. For the Nigerian national team, that meant a second consecutive absence from the World Cup, which is an especially heavy blow for a generation with great attacking potential.
Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman are the two most prominent consequences of that failure. Osimhen has for years been one of the most dangerous African strikers, a player whose combination of speed, strength and finishing can change the course of a match against any opponent. Lookman has meanwhile grown into an important international and one of those players who can operate between the lines, stretch the attack and create an advantage in the final third. Their absence means that the World Cup will not have the Nigerian attacking tandem that, in a more open format with 48 teams, could have been among the most interesting stories of the tournament. According to the available CAF and FIFA reports, Nigeria did not go out because of a lack of talent, but because of a qualifying path in which several missed chances and one penalty shoot-out ending determined the fate of an entire generation.
The Nigerian case is a reminder that African qualifiers often have a different dynamic from European ones, but an equally high price for mistakes. National teams go through long groups, then through additional rounds in which one match can erase years of work. In such a system, individual quality cannot always compensate for a lack of stability, squad depth or calmness at the decisive moment. Through the history of World Cups, Nigeria has known how to bring energy, athleticism and tactical unpredictability, so its absence has a broader echo than the mere list of players. Without Osimhen and Lookman, the tournament remains without a national team that could have been dangerous precisely for the favourites in high-tempo matches.
Kvaratskhelia, Oblak, Szoboszlai and Vlahović as faces of a missed opportunity
After a major breakthrough on the European stage, Georgia hoped it could take another step in World Cup qualifying as well, but according to UEFA's results it failed to withstand the competition in a group in which stronger and more stable national teams finished ahead of it. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia thus remains one of the most prominent individuals without an appearance at the tournament. His career has already cemented his status as a national symbol, and the World Cup would precisely have been the biggest possible stage for a player who brought Georgia closer to the wider football public. In national teams with a smaller overall squad capacity, missing the tournament carries additional weight because the generation, form and qualifying schedule rarely align. For Kvaratskhelia, the next cycle will therefore be a new opportunity, but also a new race against time and circumstances.
Slovenia remained without qualification, and with it Jan Oblak without an appearance at the World Cup. For one of the most respected goalkeepers of his generation, this is a sporting paradox: his club career has brought him years at the highest level, but his national-team path has never taken him to the biggest tournament. According to UEFA's results, Slovenia failed to find enough continuity in a group in which points against direct rivals had decisive value. Oblak will be 37 in 2030, so it is clear why the missed 2026 cycle is viewed as perhaps the last major lost opportunity. Goalkeepers can last longer than outfield players, but qualifying cycles do not depend only on individual quality, but also on the strength of the entire national team.
Dominik Szoboszlai will also watch the tournament from outside the pitch after Hungary failed to qualify. According to the results of European qualifying, Hungary lost the key match at the end of the group to the Republic of Ireland 3:2, which left it without the place that would have kept it in the battle for the World Cup. Szoboszlai is the captain and central figure of the Hungarian team, the player through whom possession, rhythm and the final pass are built. His absence reduces the number of creative midfielders at the tournament, but it hits even harder at the Hungarian national-team project, which in recent years had shown that it could be an awkward and disciplined opponent. For Hungary, which has long been waiting for a return to the world showpiece, this failure remains one of the hardest moments of the current generation.
Serbia, according to UEFA's results, finished qualifying without a place in a group in which defeats against direct rivals and a difficult schedule against England proved decisive. Dušan Vlahović will therefore not play at the World Cup, even though he belongs to the profile of striker who could have great value in tournament football. Serbia has had recognizable names in attack in recent years, but failed to turn individual strength into a stable qualifying result. Vlahović's absence additionally underlines how cruel qualifiers are toward national teams that have several top players, but not a sufficiently balanced system. In a tournament with 48 teams, it was expected that such national teams would find the path more easily, but European competition showed the opposite.
The wider list of absences speaks to the unpredictability of qualifying
The list of big names who will not play in North America does not end with the few most-mentioned players. The Italian block alone could form the backbone of a very strong team, while Nigeria, Poland, Georgia, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia add different profiles of players who would enrich the tournament. What they have in common is that individual quality was not enough for a collective result. The World Cup remains a national-team competition in which individual value is always measured through the ability of the team to survive a long qualifying cycle, travel, injuries, changes in form and high-pressure matches. That is precisely why the absences of famous players are not an exception, but a constant reminder of the nature of the tournament.
For FIFA, the expansion to 48 national teams is a way to make the world showpiece more accessible to a greater number of football environments. According to the official rules of the new format, more national teams will receive at least three matches in the group, and a larger number of third-placed teams will have a chance to remain in the tournament. That should increase global representation and extend the life of some national teams that in the previous system would have been eliminated after the first phase. But the qualifiers showed that expansion does not erase differences in continuity, organization and mental toughness. Big names can still remain outside the finals if their national teams fail to solve the key matches.
For the players themselves, the consequences are different. Younger players such as Kvaratskhelia, Szoboszlai and Vlahović will have new cycles, although no one can guarantee that the circumstances will then be more favourable. Osimhen and Lookman remain at an age in which they could lead Nigeria toward the next attempt, but a second consecutive absence from the tournament increases the pressure on the entire association and coaching staff. Lewandowski and Oblak are in a different phase of their careers, in which every missed finals carries significantly greater weight. For the Italian players, the problem is collective and historical, because a third consecutive failure can no longer be viewed as coincidence or isolated bad luck.
The 2026 World Cup will therefore simultaneously be the biggest in history and one of those that will be remembered for those absent. The tournament will have new debutants, returnees, three host countries and a broader knockout format, but it will not have Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia or Georgia. It will not have Donnarumma, Tonali, Barella, Bastoni, Dimarco, Osimhen, Lookman, Lewandowski, Oblak, Szoboszlai, Vlahović or Kvaratskhelia either. In football, however, precisely such absences often increase the value of qualification for those who managed to get through. The record number of participants does not mean that the path became simple, but that the difference between achievement and missed opportunity in many cases was visible only in one match, one period of extra time or one kick from the penalty spot.
Sources:
- FIFA – official list of national teams qualified for the 2026 World Cup and tournament context (link)
- FIFA – explanation of the new World Cup format with 48 national teams (link)
- UEFA – results of European qualifying and play-offs for the 2026 World Cup (link)
- FIFA – analysis and reactions after Italy's third consecutive failure in World Cup qualifying (link)
- CAF – report on DR Congo's victory over Nigeria in the African play-off (link)
- UEFA – report on Sweden's victory over Poland in the European play-off final (link)