By Gabriel Mills
If there is one thing football fans are obsessed with, it’s predicting who the surprise performers in international tournaments will be.
The term ‘dark horse’ gets increasingly thrown around whenever a World Cup draws nearer.
In its simplest form, a dark horse team is one who defies their usually small-scale expectations to progress to the tournament’s latter stages.
It might be a side undergoing a golden era, a team that blitzed through the qualifying rounds, or a squad that looks surprisingly competitive all of a sudden.
With that in mind, here are five teams to look out for as the 2026 World Cup’s dark horses.
Ecuador
The South American outfit has been the subject of many dark horse discussions and it’s easy to see why.
As a small country with a population similar to that of Greater London, Ecuador has qualified for just four World Cups prior to this summer.
In those tournaments, they have only progressed past the group stages once, which happened 20 years ago where they lost 1-0 to England in the round of 16.
This year however, Ecuador has a squad with real talent.
The defence is particularly noteworthy with Piero Hincapié, Willian Pacho and Pervis Estupiñán involved.
Playing for Arsenal, PSG and AC Milan respectively, two of the three are title winners this season with one guaranteed to be part of a Champions League-winning side.
Moisés Caicedo of Chelsea plays in front of them in the midfield and, at his best, is one of the most effective midfield players in world football.
Since suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to Brazil in September 2024, Ecuador remain unbeaten in 17 matches.
Having finished second in World Cup qualifiers, ahead of the likes of Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia, Ecuador is a side to keep an eye on this summer.
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Switzerland
As a more regular entry into World Cup competitions, Switzerland have qualified for their sixth straight tournament.
They achieved it in style, too, after winning four and drawing two in qualifying matches.
The team holds real leadership in the form of Granit Xhaka in midfield, while Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez give extra experience as part of the defence.
Sevilla’s Rubén Vargas and Nottingham Forest’s Dan Ndoye give an injection of pace and creativity out wide.
While the Swiss are no stranger to making it through the group stages, the round of 16 has been their stumbling block for the past three World Cups.
But, that could change this year.
Switzerland have the luxury of being placed in a favourable group, alongside Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar.
In the very possible scenario where they top the group, the Swiss will be playing a third placed side in the round of 16 which will make them likely favourites to reach the quarter-finals.
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Senegal
Like Ecuador, Senegal had appeared at four World Cups before this summer, and while Morocco may be the highest ranked African side, Senegal are my pick.
The West African side topped their qualification group without suffering a defeat.
As we saw during their 2025 AFCON campaign, Senegal’s squad is full of quality players in all areas of the pitch.
Former Chelsea stars like Édouard Mendy in goal and Nicolas Jackson in attack will feature alongside Sadio Mané, who will be involved in his second World Cup after missing 2022 through injury.
Senegal also have six current Premier League stars in their squad, including Idrissa Gana Gueye, Habib Diarra, Ismaïla Sarr and Iliman N’Diaye.
England fans know the quality of Senegal all too well after the African side thumped the Three Lions 3-1 last summer.
However, a tough group stage awaits them, with France, Norway and Iraq making up Group B.
Nevertheless, Senegal have a squad deserving of further progression.
Portugal
This may be an absurd inclusion considering they are one of the favourites to win it, but Portugal have every chance to lift their first World Cup this summer.
They are the sixth favourite according to many bookmakers, but I would consider them more of a threat.
Thus, they are still somewhat a dark horse.
With arguably the best midfield in world football, containing the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva and João Neves, Portugal look irresistible.
There is pace and power along with technical brilliance in the front as Rafael Leão, Pedro Neto and Francisco Trincão form the attack with Cristiano Ronaldo, of course.
Nuno Mendes is many fans’ pick for the best current left back in the world, making this a scarily good side.
As expected, Portugal topped their qualifying group, putting 14 goals past Armenia and five past Hungary over the two matches against the pair.
If Portugal do go all the way, it will certainly be dedicated to the late Diogo Jota.
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USA
It is unclear when the world will take the American men’s ‘soccer’ team seriously, but it might be this summer when they host alongside Mexico and Canada.
There have previously been few and far between talented football players on the USA side, but gradual progression now puts them in a position to name an exciting squad.
Premier League stars like Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaronson and Antonee Robinson all feature, while Christian Pulisic of AC Milan will spearhead the attack.
USA progressed all the way to the final of the Gold Cup last summer, losing out to Mexico at the final hurdle.
Since then, wins against Japan, Paraguay and Uruguay while also drawing against previously mentioned Ecuador shows a real development of the men’s national football team.
In a favourable Group D, they are joined by Paraguay, Australia and Turkey.
Hosting may also boost the side, who will look to make it past the round of 16 for just a second time ever.
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