2026 World Cup Fantasy - Qualification Stars: Europe (UEFA)

Let’s take a look at the European players who shined for their national teams during World Cup 2026 qualification matches (September 2023 – March 2026). We focus on the forwards & midfielders with the highest number of goal involvement, and most influential defenders & goalkeepers in terms of clean sheets.

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Goal Involvement:

Erling Haaland (FWD-$10.5m-Norway): The player with the highest number of goal involvement – 16 goals & 3 assists in 8 matches – among all players in all continents who led Norway to win all their 8 matches and to finish on top of their group – above Italy, the greatest missing team in the World Cup.
Memphis Depay (FWD-Netherlands): Despite playing for Corinthians in the last two years, he is still delivering for the Netherlands with an amazing record of 8 goals & 4 assists in the qualifications. (note: he is still not in the game)
Mikel Oyarzabal (FWD-$8.1m-Spain): The best goal involvement record among Spanish players in the qualification matches belongs to the player who scored their winning goal in Euro 2024 Final, with 6 goals & 4 assists in just 6 matches.
Marko Arnautovic (FWD-$6.0m-Austria): The 36-year-old striker is still shining for his national team as he had 8 goals & 1 assist during the qualifications.
Harry Kane (FWD-$10.5m-England): The Golden Boot winner of World Cup 2018 scored 8 goals in 8 matches and led England to win all their matches in the qualifications, the only team alongside Norway in Europe to achieve the perfect streak.
Kylian Mbappe (FWD-$10.5m-France): The Golden Boot winner of World Cup 2022 and the Young Player Award winner in World Cup 2018 has an amazing record of 5 goals & 3 assists in only 4 matches for his national team.
Cody Gakpo (FWD-$7.7m- Netherlands): Another great performance from a Dutch player during the qualifications with 4 goals & 4 assists in 8 matches.
Jeremy Doku (MID-$7.5m- Belgium): The young star who had the best performance among Belgian players in their qualification matches with 5 goals & 3 assists in 8 matches.
Ivan Perisic (FWD-$5.4m- Croatia): Another veteran who is still delivering for his national team, as he scored 4 goals & provided 4 assists during the qualifications.
Martin Odegaard (MID-$7.7m-Norway): Norway had another star shining in qualification matches with a record of 1 goal & 7 assists in just 5 matches he played for the team.

Here is the list of all European players with a minimum 6 goal involvement in the qualifying round:

Stars from European Qualifiers to Target in 2026 World Cup Fantasy

(Please note: G=Goal, A=Assist, min=minutes played)

Clean Sheet:

England: Jordan Pickford (GK-$4.8m) / Ezri Konsa (DEF-$4.8m): England didn’t concede even one goal in 8 matches during the qualifications, and these two played the most minutes during their perfect clean sheet streak.
Spain: Unai Simon (GK-$5.0m) / Marc Cucurella (DEF-$5.1m): Spain conceded only 2 goals in 6 matches.
Switzerland: Gregor Kobel (GK-$4.7m) / Manuel Akanji (DEF-$5.0m) / Nico Elvedi (DEF-$4.3m): only 2 goals conceded in 6 matches, the same record for Switzerland.
Austria: Phillipp Lienhart (DEF-$4.3m): Austria conceded 4 goals in 8 matches, an average of 0.5 goals conceded per match.
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic (GK-$4.5m): The same number – average of 0.5 goals conceded per match – for Croatia in their 8 matches.
Netherlands: Bart Verbruggen (GK-$4.7m) / Virgil van Dijk (DEF-$5.5m): Again, the same record – 4 goals conceded in 8 matches – for the Netherlands during the qualifications.
Norway: Orjan Nyland (GK-$4.2m) / Julian Ryerson (DEF-$4.2m) / Kristoffer Ajer (DEF-$4.3m): Norway conceded only 4 goals during their perfect run of 8 wins in qualification matches.
Germany: Joshua Kimmich (DEF-$5.5m) / Jonathan Tah (DEF-$5.3m) / David Raum (DEF-$4.9m): Germany conceded only 3 goals in 6 matches – an average of 0.5 goals per match.

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2026 World Cup Fantasy – Qualification Stars: Europe (UEFA)