The development paths of players at the FIFA World Cup 2026™

The FIFA World Cup 2026 featured 48 teams for the first time. The enlarged format brings more football but also, importantly, greater opportunities for a wider range of countries to compete on football’s greatest stage.

The following report is the result of a joint research project by the FIFA Talent Development Scheme team and the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory research group. It analyses the development pathways of the players selected for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, and aims to highlight the key factors that shaped their progression to elite international football. The report is structured according to three key pillars: player profiles, developmental environments and career pathways, and features a foreword by Arsène Wenger and an executive summary by Ulf Schott, FIFA’s Head of High Performance.

Three charts to get you started

1. Player profiles: % of players selected by birth quarter across different competitions

At the FIFA World Cup 2026, 28.5% of players were born in the first quarter of the calendar year, compared to 26.8% in the second, 24.5% in the third, and just 20.2% in the fourth. While relative age effects are evident at senior level, they are less pronounced than in youth tournaments, where differences in cognitive and physical maturity are more pronounced.

2. Developmental environments: Locations of training clubs

In total, 598 clubs contributed to the training of at least one player at the FIFA World Cup 2026. For a club to be considered a contributor, a player must have spent at least three years there between the seasons of their 15th and 21st birthdays. While these clubs are located across the world, the map above shows that a large proportion were based in UEFA Member Associations.

3. Career pathways: Average age of debut in domestic football’s top tiers

A player’s debut into the senior game is one of their major career milestones. At FIFA World Cup 2026, the average age of players when making their domestic top-division debut was 19.5. Like footedness, regional and national averages vary, highlighting how approaches to introducing young players to senior football differ across countries and regions.