The next five weeks will showcase the skills of some of the best players of this generation - but not all. Whether through injury, playing for a country who failed to qualify or just not being picked, a whole host of big-name stars will not be at the 2026 World Cup this summer. Here are 10 of the very best.
10 - Dean Huijsen (Spain)
For the first time since 1950 Spain will go to the World Cup without a single Real Madrid player - which means defender Dean Huijsen missed the cut. The Dutch-born defender's omission came as a real surprise to many pundits given how classy the 21-year-old has looked since his £50m switch from Bournemouth to the Bernabeu last summer. Huijsen has seven caps, the last of which was playing a full 90 against Egypt in March which seemed to have rubber-stamped his spot in Luis de la Fuente's 26-man squad.
9 - Xavi Simons (Netherlands)
Ronald Koeman would have had Tottenham's Xavi Simons pretty much nailed on for the No. 10 spot - but then injury struck. "A real blow," was how Netherlands chief Koeman reacted to the knee injury sustained by the gifted 23-year-old playmaker playing for Spurs against Wolves in the Premier League. Simons had been Netherlands' youngest ever player to appear in a World Cup knockout game four years ago in a 3-1 win over the United States and had developed into a mainstay of the squad.
8 - Federico Dimarco (Italy)
Italy's surprise absence means a whole host of Serie A stars will not be in North America, among them Inter Milan's exceptional left wing-back Federico Dimarco. The 28-year-old has just come off his best ever domestic scoring season with seven goals helping Inter Milan regain the scudetto. And as if that was not enough, Dimarco was named Serie A's Player of the Season.
7 - Cole Palmer (England)
Several top-class Premier League stars failed to convince England boss Thomas Tuchel, among them Cole Palmer. Palmer had hit the international headlines at Euro 2024 with a string of fine cameos off the bench, including scoring in their 2-1 loss to Spain in the final. Fast forward 12 months and England's Men's Player of the Year 2023-24 was leading Chelsea to the Club World Cup. He even got selected for FIFA's Men's World XI for 2025. An indifferent 2025-26 for his club side, however, has seen his stock fall and Tuchel showed no mercy.
6 - Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)
A number of world-class African stars will not be travelling across the Atlantic, among them Victor Osimhen of Nigeria, who failed to qualify. Osimhen did his part, scoring eight goals in qualifying, but that was not enough for the Super Eagles, which means the 27-year-old Galatasaray striker has still yet to play at a World Cup. Osimhen has been a scoring machine for the best part of a decade, latterly in Turkey but most memorably for Napoli, who he helped end their Serie A title drought in 2022-23.
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5 - Rodrygo (Brazil)
An ACL rupture sustained in March while playing for Real Madrid shattered Rodrygo's World Cup dream. Rodrygo played five times for Brazil at the last World Cup and would have had a major part to play in Carlo Ancelotti's exciting four-man front line pencilled in for this year's tournament.
4 - Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
The chances of 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski gracing another World Cup are slim, though Poland have never yet managed to replace this prolific marksman, so who knows? Lewandowski, a man who has found the net for his country every year since debuting in 2008, scored twice in Qatar four years ago to add to six goals for the Poles across four different European Championships. His tally of 14 La Liga goals for Barcelona this season is his lowest domestic league haul since 2010-11 so perhaps his remarkable poaching powers are on the wane.
3 - Serhou Guirassy (Guinea)
Serhou Guirassy is one of the Bundesliga's real superstars - but that alone does not earn a shot at a World Cup. After shining with Amiens and Rennes in France, the Guinea hotshot has enjoyed four years in Germany with Stuttgart and Dortmund banging in more than 100 goals. Which makes you wonder if the 30-year-old French-born frontman, capped by his country of birth at youth level, might have been going to this World Cup had he not sworn an oath to Guinea, whom he teamed up with four years ago.
2 - Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia)
Georgia's most decorated player, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, will have his magical feet up this summer, after helping club side Paris Saint-Germain land the UEFA Champions League for the second season in a row. The 25-year-old flier has won four domestic league titles in four seasons with Napoli and PSG but not even his talents could take his country to the US. Kvaratskhelia managed a couple of goals in World Cup qualifying but Georgia finished a long way behind Spain and Turkey.
1 - Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)
Surely the best goalkeeper not at the World Cup has to be Gianluigi Donnarumma, the man mountain who wears the gloves for Italy. The 27-year-old Manchester City keeper was just 17 when he made his debut for Italy and has been wowing audiences with his shot-saving and massive influence between the sticks ever since. Donnarumma was named player of the tournament at Euro 2020, which Italy won, and was hailed as FIFA's Best Goalkeeper just last year.
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