2026 World Cup Quarter Finals Power Rankings

the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup brought some epic moments and exciting football. We started to see some upsets and close calls as we now enter the quarter finals of the tournament.

So with only eight teams remaining, who are the top nations still playing in the tournament? The FOX Sports World Cup NOW team of Melissa Ortiz, Maurice Edu, Brad Guzan and Sacha Kljestan took a look at the field to reveal their power rankings of the eight remaining teams in the quarterfinals.

“I think Switzerland, who just put us to sleep, can be No. 8,” Kljestan said.

Edu agreed with the assessment, noting that Belgium had to move up after Switzerland needed penalties to beat Colombia to advance. As a result, Belgium moved up one place.

Still, Switzerland is now 3-2-0 at this tournament.

Belgium, originally ranked eighth, moved up one place after a 4-1 rout of co-hosts USA in the round of 16. Belgium has shown the ability to score in bunches, but it looked vulnerable early on against Senegal in the round of 16, who had to mount a comeback to advance forever. It also came after Belgium went 1-2-0 in the group stage, but it has now won three games in a row.

Norway took the No. 6 position by unanimous consent of the World Cup NOW crew, with Edu even leading a fast Viking line with his crew members. Norway advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time in its confederation’s history after Erling Haaland scored twice in his round-of-16 win over Brazil on Sunday. Norway have also won all four games Haaland has played in this tournament as he battles for the Golden Boot.

For the No. 5 spot, the crew agreed that Morocco should finish in the bottom half of the power rankings. Ortiz added that Morocco should not be taken lightly, something the rest of the crew agreed with.

Morocco advanced to the quarter-finals after its 3-0 win over Canada on Saturday. But its most impressive game might have been against the Netherlands in the Round of 16. After battling to a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands, Morocco progressed on penalties as they now face France in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

The debate shifted as the panel examined the top four teams, starting with a close comparison between No.4 England and the third-ranked team on this list.

“Our decision between number three and number four was difficult because I think England have also shown championship quality and so I think there is a little separation between the one and two teams and the three and four teams,” Kljestan said.

Edu pointed to England’s recent performance in their 3-2 win over Mexico to show how close the margin was between the two sides.

“The biggest thing for me, between Argentina and England, because I was at that game in Mexico City, England was impressive to be able to do what hadn’t been done since 2013 in a competitive game at the Azteca, which is to win, that was impressive,” Edu said. “Their stars turned up, Jude Bellingham gets a brace, Harry Kane gets a goal and assists in that too.”

Despite England’s heroic performance, the team gave Argentina the no.3 lead due to its tournament history and tournament leadership.

“What sets Argentina apart? Obviously it’s Messi, but it’s that they’ve already done it,” Edu said.

“They come in here as the defending champions so they know that winning streak, they know what it takes and when you talk about their last couple of games against Cape Verde and then today against Egypt, yeah, they were nerve-wracking.

“If you’re a Messi fan, if you’re an Argentina fan, you sit and sweat, you’re nervous, but there’s a certain character that this group possesses, including the manager, because they crossed that line already at the last World Cup.”

Argentina has won all five matches it has played at this World Cup. However, the last two victories were dramatic. It needed extra

a time to beat Cape Verde in the Round of 16 before coming back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Egypt in the Round of 16 on Tuesday.

“You guys, they’ve, they’ve made the fans suffer, they’ve made football fans suffer, but they’ve always come through,” Ortiz said.

Guzan added that it has “been the Messi show” and indicated that the rest of the roster must contribute more as the tournament progresses.

“They’re going to need help from others,” Guzan said. “There are other guys on that team, they’re going to have to step up.”

Spain secured the No. 2 spot in the power rankings largely due to its defensive efficiency throughout the competition.

“I think Spain has been incredible,” Edu said. “There’s still more, there’s still more to see from this team, but they’ve been incredibly effective. The fact that they’re in a quarter-final without conceding a goal, that’s [I say] it’s impressive.”

With Spain yet to concede a goal in this tournament, they have outscored their opponents 9-0 in this tournament.

France took the No. 1 spot on the board and maintained their status as tournament favourites.

“And they’ve lived up to the expectations that everyone has put on them,” Kljestan said. “They were the odds-on favorite. They were the team that I think all of us at this little round table have picked to win the tournament, and they’ve been the best attacking team. So they’re No. 1 – best attacking team, second, best defensive team in this tournament.”

Like Argentina, France have won all five games they have played in this tournament. It had to crush a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the round of 16, but France have outscored their opponents 14-2 in this tournament.

With the rankings set, the analysts debated whether any of the lower-ranked teams could challenge the top four for the title. Kljestan expressed skepticism about the lower tier’s chances of sustaining success through the remaining rounds.

“I personally don’t think any of the teams outside the top four can win this World Cup,” Kljestan said. “You have to win three more games from this point on and I don’t see any of those teams knocking out any of the top four teams, let alone knocking them out once and then having to do two more.”

Guzan agreed, stressing the difficulty of stringing together consecutive wins against elite opponents.

“That’s what I was just going to say, I think there’s potential to do it once, to do it twice and three times,” Guzan said. “I think it’s going to be really, really challenging when you go up against these top four teams with the quality they have.”