Haaland’s Norway surges, France favored, Mexico shines at World Cup 2026
France entered as the favorite, Haaland’s Norway returned after 28 years, and Mexico joined France and Argentina as the only perfect teams in the group stage.
France, Norway and Mexico quickly drew the outlines of the 2026 World Cup hierarchy, with FIFA identifying France as a title favorite, Norway returning to the tournament after a 28-year absence and Mexico finishing the group stage with a perfect record. The 23rd edition of the competition was also the first to feature 48 teams and the first staged across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
France stepped into the tournament with the clearest favorite’s profile. FIFA placed the French among the leading candidates to win the title, and their run through the early rounds kept the route to the final in New York/New Jersey open. France’s strength remained rooted in a deep attack, a luxury that has long separated contenders from the rest of the field.
Norway’s rise carried a different kind of weight. The country qualified for its fourth World Cup and reached a finals again for the first time since France 1998, a gap of 28 years that gave the campaign historical force. Erling Haaland drove the qualification push with 16 goals in eight matches, then arrived at his first World Cup at 25 with his reputation already fixed as one of the game’s most devastating scorers. Before the tournament, Stale Solbakken called Haaland the "mejor goleador del planeta," and Sander Berge described him as "un animal."
Mexico added the most important reassessment of the group stage. Javier Aguirre opened the World Cup with a victory over South Africa, giving the host nation a fast start in a tournament it was co-hosting with Canada and the United States. Mexico then joined France and Argentina as the only teams to finish the group stage with a perfect record, a result that made its own ceiling harder to discount.
The setting gave the storyline even more weight. Mexico was hosting a World Cup for the third time, after 1970 and 1986, and the expanded format placed that history alongside a field of 48 teams for the first time. France looked like the benchmark, Norway had Haaland as its engine, and Mexico had already forced a rethink of how high a host could climb.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
