Article by Alexandru Tomuțiu – Published Friday, 05 June 2026, 07:16 / Updated Friday, 05 June 2026 07:17
The individual performance of footballers participating in the World Cup will be measured by a new system, the FIFA Power Rankings, as announced by the world forum.
The data-driven system will generate a list of the top 100 players and will be updated after each match of the 48-team tournament, which begins next week in North America.
The project was developed under the guidance of Arsene Wenger
According to the official statement, the ranking will be based on FIFA's unique match data and algorithms and will provide “an objective insight into how players perform at key moments of the game”.
FIFA said the program was developed by “football experts” under the guidance of Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal great manager who is currently head of global football development at the forum.
“Performance will no longer be evaluated based on opinion alone. With the new FIFA Power Rankings, each footballer will be represented by objective data such as attacking and defensive play, creativity, setting a new global standard for individual football performance,” added Wenger, according to sportal.bg.
In each match, every outfield player who reaches the minutes played threshold will receive a grade from 0 to 10 in three main performance areas: attack, creativity and defense. Goalkeepers will be evaluated in two categories: saves and goals conceded/no goals conceded.
Rankings will be published after each team in the tournament has completed its first match. From then on, it will be updated after every game.
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The 2026 World Championship will be held in 3 countries: USA, Mexico and Canada. It will take place between June 11 and July 19.
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It will be the first tournament in history with 48 teams.
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The tournament will feature a total of 104 matches over 38 days, making it the longest World Cup in history.
