Viva's Power Rankings — No.1: Brazil, five stars, twenty-four years of waiting, and the squad that ends it in 2026
Brazil are Viva's pick to win World Cup 2026. Vinícius, Raphinha, Endrick. A squad built for this tournament despite three significant injuries. Twenty-four years since the last star. The wait ends here.
Brazil have not won the World Cup since 2002. Twenty-four years. For a nation that defines itself through football more completely than any other on the planet, twenty-four years is not just a long time — it is a wound that every tournament reopens and every early exit deepens. In 2026 the wound closes. That is Viva's pick, stated clearly and without qualification: Brazil win the World Cup.
The case begins with Vinícius Júnior. On his best day he is the most dangerous attacker in world football. Around him, Raphinha returning from injury provides the creative depth and goal threat that makes Brazil's attack function as a system. Endrick, at 19, provides the impact from the bench that tournament football eventually demands from every winning side.
The injuries absorbed
Brazil have lost Rodrygo, Estêvão, and Militão. Those absences are significant. They narrow the margin for error. They do not eliminate the foundation. Carlo Ancelotti has managed squads with significant injury problems at Real Madrid and produced Champions League titles. The depth of Brazilian football — the quality available even when the first choices are absent — is the deepest in South American football.
The defensive reorganisation
Militão's absence is the most consequential of the three injuries. Brazil's high defensive line requires specific qualities at centre-back — pace, positional intelligence, composure to play out under pressure. How Ancelotti solves this problem will define whether the tournament prediction holds. The opening match against Morocco on June 13 is the first real examination.
Why Brazil at number one
The prediction is based on the assessment that their combination of individual attacking quality — Vinícius, Raphinha, Endrick — and the systemic intelligence Ancelotti brings to defensive organisation gives them the most complete balance of the sides capable of winning. France are close. Spain, if Yamal is fit, are close. Germany are the dark horse. Brazil, fully fit and functioning at their level, are marginally better than all of them.
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti | Key player: Vinícius Júnior
Group: Group C with Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
"Twenty-four years. Five stars waiting for a sixth. Vinícius at his peak, Raphinha returning, Endrick ready. Ancelotti with a point to prove at his first World Cup as a national team manager. I have watched every angle of this tournament and I keep arriving at the same place: Brazil. They win it. That is my verdict and I am standing by it until the final whistle proves me right or wrong."
