2026 World Cup Sweepstake

Tuesday at 15:181 day

Brazil, yeah they are a decent shout, not won for a long time but always got a chance! I'm rooting for England or Brazil now. 😍

Tuesday at 15:191 day

Author

19. @pavi- Japan

World Cup Appearances: 8

Best: Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)

On 24/05/2026 at 13:54, LewisGT said:
18. Japan
Group F
AFC (1/9)
World Ranking: 18
Best Result: Last 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)
Fixtures:
Netherlands (14th June, 9PM)
Tunisia (21st June, 5AM)
Sweden (26th June, 12AM)
The first nation to qualify for this tournament outside of the hosts, Japan have already had 14-months to prepare for this tournament and their March friendlies where they beat Scotland and England shown that they’ve taken full advantage of the time. They’re always an exciting team full of hardworking, unselfish players who also always seem to have some pace about them. Just watch their goal against England and you can see how devastating they are on the counter. However, they have lost their star (and scorer of that goal) Kaoru Mitoma through injury which will be a hard loss to recover from. They’ve reached the last-16 of the previous two tournaments and have been desperately unlucky in both. In 2018, they took a two-goal lead before eventually succumbing to the golden generation of Belgium after Chadli scored a 90+4th minute winner and in 2022 they lost a penalty shoot out to Croatia after dominating the game. Belgium and Croatia both went on to finish 3rd in the respective tournaments. I think they won a lot of people’s hearts four-years ago where they beat Germany and Spain to top their group.
The Manager: Hajime Moriyasu
A no-nonsense defensive midfielder making 35 appearances for Japan between 1992-1996, Moriyasu played for the side before they became a heavyweight in Asia and was out of the picture before Japan qualified for their first World Cup in 1998. He had a thirteen-year spell as a regular in Japan’s top flight. As a manager, he led Sanfrecce Hiroshima to two league titles and coached Japan’s (under 23) side at their home 2020 Olympics where they just missed out on a bronze medal. After being the assistant manager in Japan’s 2018 World Cup side, he was given the main job after Akira Nishino’s resignation. As you can see, he did juggle being the first team manager and under-23’s manager for three years which helped him introduce a whole new generation to the senior side.
Key Player: Ritsu Dōan (Eintracht Frankfurt)
With Mitoma being injured, it isn’t easy to pick who Japan’s new main man is going to be. But there is undoubtedly going to be a lot of pressure on Dōan to step up in his absence. Dōan made a name for himself at the last World Cup where he came off the bench against both Germany and Spain to score instant equalisers in games they went on to win and, last year, made the biggest move of his career joining Frankfurt. His season hasn’t been brilliant and there’s already reports that he wants to move but he was top scorer at Freiburg the season before and he brings a lot of the same strengths (pace, agility, good finishing) as the missing Mitoma.
Why they're actually going to win it: They’ve proved that they can be effective against the biggest sides and their high-energy style of play is capable of blowing anyone else away.

Tuesday at 15:231 day

Author

48. @Dobbo- Bosnia and Herzegovina

World Cup Appearances: 2

Best: Group Stage (2014)

On 29/04/2026 at 16:34, LewisGT said:
43. Bosnia & Herzegovina
Group B
UEFA (16/16)
World Ranking: 65
Best Result: Group Stage (2014)
Fixtures:
Canada (12th June, 8PM)
Switzerland (18th June, 8PM)
Qatar (24th June, 8PM)
Booking their spot at their second World Cup in the most dramatic fashion, Bosnia & Herzegovina have become heroes to many for hilariously making it three in a row that Italy have missed. Their previous experience was in 2014 where a victory against Iran was not enough to see them out the group thanks to odd-goal defeats by Argentina and Nigeria. However, this is no longer the Bosnia & Herzegovina team of yore that reached #13 in the World Rankings in 2013. This is a side that has never made the European Championships, finishing with 8-less points than Luxembourg (including home and away defeats) in their last campaign. There’s no longer Miralem Pjanić or Asmir Begović and while Edin Džeko is still a key figure, he’s now in his 40s and is not operating at the same level. It’s impressive that they’re here after being underdogs against Wales and Italy but there rode their luck with penalties and struggled to break-down a 10-man Italy side.
The Manager: Sergej Barbarez
After a successful career as a striker in Germany, playing for many of the big sides (Dortmund, Leverkusen, Hamburg) and the Bosnia national side, this is the 54-year-old’s first managerial job and he’s settled into it extremely quickly with a strong qualifying campaign that only saw them lose one match. He caused some controversy before the Wales play-off match by claiming that the Welsh Steve Cooper hadn’t been picking Benjamin Tahirović for Brøndby to try and help give Wales the advantage.
Key Player: Kerim Alajbegović (Red Bull Salzberg)
Džeko is the obvious pick as he’s still the man Bosnia rely on the score the goals but I’m going to go with their young teenage winger Alajbegović. He netted penalties in both of the ties verses Wales and Italy and the composure he shown was years above his age. He’s already agreed to move back to Bayer Leverkusen, where he spent most of his youth career following a buy-back clause, in the summer after impressing in his debut season in Austria but Inter are reported to be interested in securing his services long-term.
Why they're actually going to win it: They’ve already defied the odds in the play-offs to get here and proved that they know how to take some penalties if it comes to that.

Tuesday at 15:251 day

Author

31. @RabbitFurCoat- Australia

World Cup Appearances: 7

Best: Round of 16 (2006, 2022)

On 11/05/2026 at 12:37, LewisGT said:
31. Australia
Group D
AFC (3/9)
World Ranking: 27
Best Result: Last 16 (2006, 2022)
Fixtures:
Turkey (14th June, 5AM)
USA (19th June, 8PM)
Paraguay (26th June, 3AM)
While he will be at the World Cup this year representing Iraq, Grahan Arnold led Australia to their equal-best run at the last World Cup being unluckily knocked-out by eventual winners Argentina in the Last 16. He started the qualifying campaign for this tournament with Australia but was sacked after they lost 1-0 to Bahrain and drew 0-0 with Indonesia in the first two games of Round 3 of qualifying. They were looking destined to have to go through extra-qualifying rounds, owever, since he left, they’ve been a completely different side, taking four points from Japan and beating nearest-rivals Saudi Arabia to book their spot at the first stage. Just over 10 years ago, Australia reached their lowest-ebb, falling outside of the top 100 of the FIFA World Rankings for the only time in their history (November 2014) but have been consistently on the up since and have now been in the top 30 for 3.5 years straight. This saw them being rewarded with being a Pot 2 side for this tournament’s draw for the first time. There is a real sense of optimism in the country going into this World Cup that they could be underestimated and surprise a few.
The Manager: Tony Popovic
Best known in his playing career for a five-year spell at Crystal Palace where he became the club captain and was part of their promotion to the Premier League. This time 20 years ago, he was preparing for the World Cup as a player. However, he got injured in the first half of the team’s second match versus Brazil and missed the final group stage game and the last 16 tie against Italy. As a manager, aside from some quick interludes in Turkey and Greece, he has stayed in his home country, winning the A-League with two different clubs (Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory) as well as the 2014 AFC Champions League with Wanderers. A Centre-Back by trade, he has definitely brought a pragmatic, defence style of play to this Australia team. While he’s got great results, he has also faced criticism for his ‘boring’ football. But don’t expect him to change his ways now.
Key Player: Jackson Irvine (St. Pauli)
Almost knows as much for his progressive politics (see his willingness to criticise Qatar’s anti-LTBTQ laws during the last World Cup), it seems fitting that Irvine is the club captain of the most famous left-wing football club in the world, St. Pauli of Germany. A proper workman in midfield, Irvine will be need by Australia as the key man to win the ball back and progress it forward in an otherwise defence-minded side. He came through the youth academy at Celtic but never really made it at the club and his career didn’t really kickstart until he moved to England, first with Burton Albion but most famously with Hull City
Why they're actually going to win it: Popovic knows how to get results. Western Sydney Wanderers were only in existence for 2-years when he led them to the Asia Champions League title so he already has underdog-winning-history.

Tuesday at 15:271 day

Author

43. @Bror- Ecuador

World Cup Appearances: 5

Best: Round of 16 (2006)

On 22/05/2026 at 20:11, LewisGT said:
20. Ecuador
Group E
CONMEBOL (4/6)
World Ranking: 23
Best Result: Last 16 (2006)
Fixtures:
Ivory Coast (15th June, 12AM)
Curaçao (21st June, 1AM)
Germany (25th June, 9PM)
They didn’t qualify until 2002 but Ecuador only missed two tournaments since then and go into this tournament on the back of a very impressive qualifying campaign where they finished 2nd in South America, despite being deducted 3-points for using false documentation to play Byron Castillo in the previous campaign. Over their 18-games, they only conceded 5-goals and had 2-losses which shows the strength of this side. Ecuador are incredibly difficult to beat. They have two brilliant centre-backs in Arsenal’s Piero Hincapié and PSG’s Willian Pacho and Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo sits just ahead of them, sweeping up any danger. Even though they’ve only reached the knock-outs once, they have always won at least once in every World Cup and impressed in 2022 where they beat Qatar in the opening game of the tournament and then drew with Netherlands. But the big question mark about this side is whether they will have enough in attack to cause the better teams problems. Nine of their eighteen matches (exactly half) ended 0-0 in qualifying which involved a run of four-straight games. 36-year-old Enner Valencia has scored goals at previous World Cups but should he really still be leading the line in 2026?
The Manager: Sebastián Beccacece
A young Argentinean coach, Beccacece never played professionally and joined the youth set-up at Newell’s Old Boys while still a teenager. Most of his career has been as an assistant, starting with Jorge Sampaoli where he followed him to Coronel Bolognesi, Sporting Cristal, O’Higgins, Emelec and Universidad de Chile, where he won two league titles and two cups and eventually became first-team manager. He has been assistant manager at two World Cup’s previously, with Chile in 2014 and Argentina in 2018. At Chile, he was part of their first ever Copa América title winning team in 2015. As the main man, his record is much patchier and he has a relegation with Elche on his CV. But you cannot argue with the results he’s gained with Ecuador.
Key Player: Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea)
There are not many defensive midfielders who sell for more than £100 million but Chelsea were convinced to spend that to bring Caicedo from Brighton in 2023, famously beating Liverpool in the process. He really struggled in that first season and the price-tag looked like it was weighing heavy but in the past two seasons, he has probably been their most consistent player and is starting to justify the huge outlay. With his country, he’s been exceptional too and is a key factor in why they hardly ever concede a goal.
Why they're actually going to win it: José Mourinho has certainly won a lot of trophies and Ecuador are the new masters of the park-the-bus mentality that brought him so much success.

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Tuesday at 15:281 day

Well, safe to say I'm not retaining my crown this time around.

1

Tuesday at 15:301 day

Author

30. @Mart!n- Germany

World Cup Appearances: 21

Best: Winners (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)

On 05/06/2026 at 18:59, LewisGT said:
6. Germany
Group E
UEFA (5/16)
World Ranking: 10
Best Result: Winners (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)
Fixtures:
Curaçao (14th June, 6PM)
Ivory Coast (20th June, 9PM)
Ecuador (25th June, 9PM)
“Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win". So said, famously, by Gary Lineker after England’s penalty shoot-out defeat to West Germany in the semi-finals of World Cup 1990. And after their 7-1 rout of hosts Brazil on the way to the 2014 World Cup, this quote still felt very relevant. However, after consecutive group stage exits, they no longer have the same fear-factor. Their 2-0 defeat to Slovakia in the first qualifier this time around rang alarm bells but their 6-0 win against the same opposition in their final match put those fears to bed. At the previous Euros, where they hosted, they started to look like their old selves and were very unfortunate in their defeat to eventual winners Spain. But quarter-finals are not enough for Germany and their fans will be demanding more this time around. They certainly have the players to mount a challenge, Musiala and Wirtz are exciting and Manuel Neuer’s return will bring experience but the big question remark remains up top. Woltemade has been playing in midfield for Newcastle and they still haven’t found a replacement in the vein of Müller (Gerd or Thomas), Miroslav Klose or Jürgen Klinsmann. With three-teams progressing from most groups, they look unlikely to make it three group stage exits but the real questions will come when they face another of the big names.
The Manager: Julian Nagelsmann
After retiring from playing at 20 due to injuries, Nagelsmann became a revelation as a young manager after becoming Hoffenheim manager at 28. After joining them 7-points of safety, he managed to keep them up in his first few months before qualifying them for their first Champions League campaign in first full season. However, they drew Liverpool in the Play-Off and didn’t make the group stage. The following season, they qualified for the group stage directly after a 3rd place finish and, at 31, he became the youngest manager ever in the competition. This earned him a move to RB Leipzig where he reached the Champions League semi-finals. Bayern then paid a record-fee for a manager (€25 million) to bring him in but sacked him within 2-years, despite winning the league title. He was brought in to Germany before Euro 2024 (replacing Hansi Flick like he did at Bayern) and is starting to win over the German public.
Key Player: Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
The third ‘key player’ so far that was eligible to play for England and would certainly be in the squad had he chose them, Musiala played for England at each age bracket between 15-21 before committing to Germany’s senior side in 2021. He proved his worth to the national side at Euro 2024 where he was the joint-winner of the Golden Boot and played years above his age. Still only 23, his Bayern career has been injury-hit and a fractured fibula suffered at last year’s Club World Cup has sidelined him for more of this season. But when he’s on the pitch, he gives his side an extra dimension and his creativity will be vital for Germany this year as they struggle without a true centre-forward.
Why they're actually going to win it: Bayern are back to playing some of their best football so it’s probably time for Germany to do so too.

Tuesday at 15:321 day

Author

28. @LewisGT-Argentina

World Cup Appearances: 14

Best: Winners (1974, 1978, 2022)

22 hours ago, LewisGT said:
3. Argentina
Group J
CONMEBOL (1/6)
World Ranking: 3
Best Result: Winners (1978, 1986, 2022)
Fixtures:
Algeria (17th June, 2AM)
Austria (22nd June, 6PM)
Jordan (28th June, 3AM)
The defending World Champions and there’s no reason to believe that they can’t do it again. Since their epic penalty shoot-out victory against France in Qatar, they’ve bagged another Copa América title, became the first ever team to win away to Brazil in a qualifier and qualified easily for this tournament, finishing top by 9-points. Who could have foreseen all this when they were on the wrong end of the World Cup’s biggest ever upset in their opening game last time around against Saudi Arabia? They’re not always the prettiest to watch but they have a lot of determination and grit and are quite happy for games to turn into a fight; just rewatch the highlights of the Netherlands game in 2022. They’re coming into this tournament looking in better shape than they did in 2022 and will be a team that everyone will want to avoid.
The Manager: Lionel Scaloni
In his first senior managerial role, Scaloni has won the World Cup with his home country. He’s practically completed football management in one role so where is there really to go from here? His two Copa América wins either side of that mean that he’s won the last three tournaments he’s entered so he has the best, most experienced international CV in this tournament, despite still only being 48. As a player, his World Cup experience was much more limited. He was a shock inclusion in Argentina’s 2006 squad but only made one appearance, against Mexico in the Last 16. He got into that squad after impressing in a 4-month loan at West Ham in the Premier League.
Key Player: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)
I think most people thought we’d saw the last of Messi at World Cups when we saw the image of him lifting the trophy aloft in 2022. It felt like the perfect way to retire from international football but the greatest players always want more and here he is again at the age of 38. What do you really need to say about him? 8 Ballon d’Ors, 8 FIFA Player of the Year titles, 2 World Cup Golden Balls, 4 Champions Leagues and a World Cup. At the last World Cup, he played a role where he sacrificed doing any defensive duties so he had the energy to come alive on the attack. Expect to see him do something similar again.
Why they're actually going to win it: They look stronger than when they won 4-years ago and Scaloni has already proved himself to be a tournament specialist.