World Cup: Top Four FIFA-Ranked Teams Reach 2026 Semi-Finals, Ending 32-Year Trend

NEW YORK: With Argentina qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-finals after securing a 3-1 victory over Switzerland early Sunday, the tournament has produced a historic lineup, with the world’s top four-ranked teams reaching the semi-finals for the first time.

Argentina, France, Spain and England—the world’s top four-ranked teams before the tournament—have all reached the semi-finals in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is the first time this has happened since FIFA introduced its men’s world rankings in December 1992. For more than three decades, the FIFA rankings have rarely reflected the World Cup’s final stages.

The clearest example came in 2002, when co-host South Korea, ranked 40th in the world, produced the most improbable semi-final run of the rankings era. Guus Hiddink’s side eliminated Portugal, Italy and Spain before eventually bowing out to Germany in the semi-finals. South Korea remain the lowest-ranked World Cup semi-finalist since FIFA rankings were introduced.

They are joined in an exclusive club of giant-killers by Bulgaria, ranked 29th in 1994; Turkey, ranked 22nd in 2002; Croatia, ranked 20th in 2018; and Morocco, also ranked 22nd, whose historic run in Qatar in 2022 made them the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final. (Agencies)

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