The expanded 48-team format was supposed to make big-profile absences, but there are still several huge names set to miss out at this summer’s tournament.
Despite 16 more nations competing in North America than at any previous World Cup, the list of elite players sitting at home this summer is as long as any in recent memory.
Italy have missed out for a third consecutive time, losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the play-offs in what has become the most baffling recurring story in international football.
Nigeria, Poland, Georgia, Hungary and Ukraine are among the other notable non-qualifiers, and between them they have produced enough world-class talent to fill a squad capable of competing with the very best in North America.
Here is the best XI assembled from the players who will not be there.
Missing World Cup XI
Formation: 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)
Right back: Mykhailo Zabarnyi (Ukraine)
Centre back: Alessandro Bastoni (Italy)
Centre back: Riccardo Calafiori (Italy)
Left back: Federico Dimarco (Italy)
Central midfield: Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary)
Central midfield: Nicolo Barella (Italy)
Central midfield: Sandro Tonali (Italy)
Right wing: Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)
Striker: Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)
Left wing: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia)
The goalkeeper who has never played at a World Cup
Gianluigi Donnarumma has won the Champions League, the European Championship and the Yashin Trophy, widely regarded as the game’s top award for goalkeepers. He has never played a minute of World Cup football.
The 27-year-old was 15 years old when Italy last appeared at a World Cup. He will remain without that experience for at least another four years after Gennaro Gattuso’s side fell to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in the European play-off final.
For a player of his stature, it is a cruel gap on an otherwise remarkable international record.
Italy’s defensive machine
Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori form a centre-back partnership that any of the 48 nations in North America would welcome.
Bastoni has been one of the most composed defenders in Serie A and the Champions League throughout the season at Inter Milan. Calafiori, still only 23, has established himself as one of the best left-footed defenders in the world since his move to Arsenal.
Federico Dimarco fills the left-back position after a remarkable domestic season that produced 15 assists and seven goals from 38 appearances for Inter.
Mykhailo Zabarnyi, Ukraine’s composed and physical defender, completes the defensive line. Ukraine did not qualify for the World Cup, ending a two-decade absence from the tournament that stretches back to their 2006 quarter-final run.
Midfield technicians
Dominik Szoboszlai, Hungary’s captain and Liverpool’s relentless engine, is the most valuable player not at this World Cup according to Transfermarkt.
Nicolo Barella and Sandro Tonali complete a central three that would be among the most competitive midfields at the tournament.
Barella, like Donnarumma, has never played World Cup football. He will be 33 by the time 2030 comes around, meaning North America was almost certainly his best remaining opportunity.
Tonali, still only 25, brings an intensity and technical quality to the position that Italy have struggled to replace at international level regardless of the talent available.
Kvaratskhelia’s long wait continues
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was the standout player of the Champions League this season and arguably the best winger in world football in 2025-26. He is not going to the World Cup.
Georgia finished a distant third in their UEFA qualifying group, behind Spain and Turkey, and Kvaratskhelia’s individual brilliance was not enough to drag them over the line.
He will have to wait at least four more years for his first taste of a World Cup, if Georgia can qualify in 2030.
On the right wing, Bryan Mbeumo gives this side a combination of pace, directness and a consistent goal threat that Cameroon will spend the summer ruing.
The striker debate
Victor Osimhen leads the line here, though the argument for Robert Lewandowski in this position is equally valid.
Osimhen’s physical dominance, movement and goalscoring instinct at the highest level of club football make him a natural fit for a World Cup tournament, but he will spend the summer on the sidelines after Nigeria’s play-off defeat.
Lewandowski, 37, was in tears after Poland’s qualifying campaign ended without a place in North America. It was almost certainly his last chance to play at a World Cup, closing out a career in which he has been one of the most prolific strikers in the history of the game.
Choosing between them for the one striker position is the hardest call in this XI.
Who misses out?
The competition for places is fierce enough that several players of genuine world-class quality could not be included.
Jan Oblak, the Atletico Madrid and Slovenia goalkeeper, would challenge Donnarumma in most other conversations.
Benjamin Sesko, Oblak’s Slovenia team-mate, is one of the most exciting young strikers in Europe. Dusan Vlahovic was Serbia’s talisman in a qualifying campaign that ultimately ended in disappointment.
Ademola Lookman and Carlos Baleba give Cameroon an attacking and midfield quality that should be on the biggest stage.
