The US is all set to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup next month, along with Canada and Mexico. And, like always, this World Cup will also create heroes. But before the tournament even begins, it derails careers of certain players and makes them ghosts.
Sports can be cruel at times. The World Cup comes once every four years, but careers aren’t aligned accordingly. One injury, one failed qualification campaign, one bad season at the wrong time, and an entire generation disappears from the biggest stage of football.
Fans usually spend the months before a World Cup talking about favourites, dark horses, and possible teams who would go on to become champions. But some of football’s heart-wrenching stories belong to players who never even make it there despite having the calibre of performing at that level.
This year will be no different.
For example, let us take a look at Victor Osimhen, a centre-forward at Turkish club Galatasaray. Currently, he is one of the most lethal strikers in the world. Few strikers are as explosive or feared right now, yet he will not be at the World Cup because Nigeria failed to qualify. The same goes for Atletico Madrid’s striker/winger Ademola Lookman, who spent the last two seasons shaping one of Europe’s most dangerous attacks.
Then, how can we forget Robert Lewandowski? At 37, this World Cup was likely his final realistic shot at the trophy. However, Poland fell short in the playoffs, and one of the greatest strikers of his generation will miss out on the action. He will turn 41 when the next edition occurs in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, and might just hang up his boots by then.
This exactly hurts the most. Players of such high calibre who might not return, missing out on the World Cup.
Injuries to poor form
For younger stars, there is always one comforting sentence: “They still have time for a comeback.” Football is used to repeating this line every four years. It’s been seen in the case of Neymar and Marco Reus. But football careers are fragile. Injuries suddenly arrive out of nowhere. Form disappears with time. Coaches change and bring in their new tactics and formations. Entire national teams collapse over those four years.
In the case of German winger Serge Gnabry, he was finally approaching another World Cup in strong form before a thigh injury ended both his season and his World Cup dreams. FIFA confirmed the development, stating that the 30-year-old suffered a torn adductor muscle during training with FC Bayern Munich.
Injuries just ahead of the World Cup are pretty brutal. During a normal club season, a player gets recovery time. Miss a few months, and another campaign waits around the corner. But the World Cup is different. Football’s calendar does not forgive badly timed pain.
Rodrygo learned that the hard way. The Brazilian attacker reportedly suffered a torn ACL during the club season, ending his hopes of representing Brazil at the World Cup.
The same heartbreak happened to players such as Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma. The Brighton & Hove Albion winger suffered a severe hamstring tear during a Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The incident occurred just weeks before the World Cup’s June kickoff. Marc-André ter Stegen, long trapped in an unlucky career shadowed by injuries and the presence of legendary goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, is also expected to miss out again.
And then there is Italy.
A World Cup without Italy still feels something is missing. The four-time champions have now missed three consecutive tournaments. This means players like Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sandro Tonali, and Alessandro Bastoni will spend another summer watching the tournament on TV.
This is the World Cup. Every tournament leaves behind a bunch of players we never get to see at the world’s biggest sporting event.
Just imagine this year’s missing XI. Osimhen leading from the front. Lewandowski just beside him. Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the wing with his blasting pace. Tonali and Hungary’s Dominik Szoboszlai in midfield, and Bastoni at the back, defending like a pillar. Exactly, it’s indeed a fantasy squad, which we can get in video games. Nonetheless, these players will not touch the field in this tournament.
Also read: FIFA World Cup is Neymar’s final chance at glory. Brazil and football both need him
Football can be cruel at times
Meanwhile, some players missing out on the tournament are a result of tactical decisions. And then, some players just could not deliver and are in poor form. England manager Thomas Tuchel reportedly leaving out players like Phil Foden and Cole Palmer has already sparked debate. Let’s not forget that Foden won the ‘Best Player’ award in the U-17 World Cup, which happened in India in 2017.
But injuries and failed qualification campaigns feel crueller because they remove choice entirely.
And perhaps that is why the World Cup still matters more emotionally than club football. A club season stretches endlessly with 38 matches in most of the top-tier tournaments like the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1. Another Champions League campaign always arrives. Another transfer window opens. Another manager takes over.
The World Cup does not work like that. Four years may be a short time in life, but it seems like an eternity in football. A 28-year-old star can warm the bench by the next tournament. A teenager can become a global icon.
Thus, every World Cup carries a strange emotional tension before it even begins. We celebrate the players who make it to the squad. But there is another story which is often overlooked: the footballers who arrived just a little too early, a little too late, or simply at the wrong moment with an injury.
Well, this is football. Timing may be football’s greatest talent and its greatest cruelty — both at the same time.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)