History made as FIFA’s top four-ranked teams reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time

The 2026 World Cup quarterfinals are complete, and the final four have been decided. In a historic first, the four remaining teams are the same four nations that occupied the top spots in the FIFA Rankings entering the tournament.

France opened the quarterfinal round on Thursday with a commanding 2-0 win over Morocco, followed by Spain edging Belgium 2-1 on Friday. Saturday closed out the bracket, with England defeating Norway 2-1 and Argentina dispatching Switzerland 3-1.

While the sport’s heavyweights tend to advance deep into the tournament, this marks the first time in 23 editions of the World Cup that the four semifinalists are all ranked inside the top four of the FIFA Rankings. Despite some shuffling of positions throughout the competition, all four nations remained within that elite group both before and after each update.

FIFA Ranking positions prior to World Cup

1. Argentina: 1877.27 points.
2. Spain: 1874.71 points.
3. France: 1870.70 points.
4. England: 1828.02 points.

FIFA Ranking’s Top 4 after latest update

1. France: 1948.97 points.
2. Argentina: 1943.47 points.
3. Spain: 1934.79 points.
4. England: 1889.42 points.

No new World Cup champion in 2026

With the semifinal pairings set as France vs Spain and England vs Argentina, the stakes could not be higher. One thing, however, is already guaranteed: this World Cup will not produce a first-time champion, a rare occurrence in the competition’s history.

With all four remaining nations being former world champions, this will be just the third time in World Cup history that every semifinalist has previously lifted the trophy. The only other editions where that was the case were 1970, featuring Brazil, Italy, West Germany, and Uruguay, and 1990, with Argentina, West Germany, Italy, and England.