FIFA World Cup 2026: Top 5 forwards to watch out for

Top 5 Forwards to Watch at the 2026 FIFA World Cup list: The Indian Express lists the top 5 forwards to look out for in this World Cup in no particular order.

(Clockwise From left) Lionel Messi,Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo. (AP)

5 min readJun 10, 2026 06:34 PM IST First published on: Jun 10, 2026 at 05:55 PM IST

Top 5 Forwards at the FIFA World Cup 2026: With the FIFA World Cup knocking at the door, an array of stars have landed in the USA, Mexico and Canada, the hosts of this year’s edition. With 104 matches and 48 teams, this promises to be one of the biggest spectacles in the history of modern football as the eyes of the whole world will be trained on this tournament for the next 40+ days.

With the legendary Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo most likely playing their last World Cup, there will be an added reason to watch the World Cup. There will also be stars from all the big league of the world as well as unheralded players who will be aiming to make a name for themselves on the grandest stage.

Here’s a list of the top 5 forwards to look out for in this World Cup in no particular order

Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Messi comes into this World Cup as the defending world champion with Argentina, having won the title in Qatar 2022. The 38-year-old superstar may have slowed down a bit over the years, trading European football for the Major League Soccer, but he still remains one of the most exciting players to watch when in full flow. Argentina is still dependent on the little magician when it comes to creating chances and scoring goals and their World Cup fate will depend on if Messi can shrug off his hamstring problems and guide them to another night of glory. He looked sprightly in the 24 minutes he played in the last warm-up match vs Iceland, even scoring a penalty and pulling off back heels, one-twos and through passes. Argentina will be happy, their opponents in the World Cup? Not so much.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

You can’t discuss Messi without the name of his eternal rival Ronaldo popping up in the conversation. For over a decade, football fans have been arguing over who is better– Messi or Ronaldo. Their battles on the pitch when they played at Barcelona and Real Madrid are the stuff of legends. Ronaldo at 41 is still extremely fit and has a knack of finding the net but with the wear and tear of modern football, he has lost some of his attributes that made him lethal in his heydays like his speed and accuracy. However, his will still holds strong and Portugal will be hoping that the recent Saudi Pro League winner can get a taste of his maiden World Cup title when it’s all said and done.

Erling Haaland (Norway)

It may be surprising that one of the most complete strikers in world football isn’t in your so called big teams like Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Spain or France but plies his trade for the relative underdogs Norway. Playing in his very first World Cup, Haaland will be the man on whose shoulders the entire hopes of the Scandinavian nation stands. Since joining Manchester City in 2022, Haaland has been a monster in front of goal, shattering records left, right and centre, helping his club to multiple Premier League titles as well as the elusive Champions League crown. Can he do it for Norway this summer? The answer is blowing in the Norwegian wind.

Harry Kane (England)

The running joke about Harry Kane when he was in Tottenham was that his luck does not allow him to win a major trophy in his career. Even in England colours, Kane, who is one of the most lethal strikers on the planet, failed twice to win the Euro, falling to Italy in the final of the 2020 edition and then losing to Spain in Euro 2024 final. His luck at the World Cup hasn’t been the best either with Kane winning the Golden Boot in 2018 in Russia but England were eliminated by Croatia in the semis while in 2022, they lost to France in the quarterfinal. But since moving to Bayern Munich in 2023, Kane won his first league title in 2025 and then followed up with his second in 2026. With that jinx over, Kane will be looking to help England win their second World Cup trophy.

Kylian Mbappe (France)

Once heralded as the one true successor of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappe has failed to replicate his idol’s footsteps as a Real Madrid player with the Los Blancos conceding the La Liga crown to Barcelona twice in two seasons, ironically after Mbappe came into the club. He finished with 42 goals in all competitions last season but due to his lack of tracking back and pressing high, Real has had to deploy other resources to plug in the gaps which has had an adverse effect on their playing style. It says a lot that his former club Paris Saint Germain has become a team known for its high press after Mbappe left which led them to back to back Champions League titles. For France, Mbappe won the World Cup in 2018 and came very close to doing in once again in 2022, only to fall to Argentina in the final on penalties in a match where Mbappe scored a hattrick. He is one of the biggest stars in the international stage and France will be all the more stronger for it.

Honourable mentions: Lamine Yamal (Spain), Ousmane Dembele (France), Michael Olise (France), Raphinha (Brazil), Vinicius Jr (Brazil), Bukayo Saka (England), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Julián Alvarez (Argentina), Alexander Isak (Sweden)