Every World Cup has a few stars who miss out. Sometimes it is because of injury. Sometimes it is because a coach makes a controversial roster decision. Sometimes it is because a great player happens to be born in a country that simply does not have enough help around him.
This list is only about that last category. These are not players who might be left off the roster or whose status is uncertain. These are players who won’t be at the World Cup because their country failed to qualify.
The expansion of the field to 48 teams made it easier for more of the world’s talent to get on the stage. Yet we still have some massive absences. Italy missed out for the third straight World Cup after another playoff disaster, while countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Poland, Serbia, Denmark and Hungary also failed to get through.
I have limited this list to just three Italian players. Otherwise this could have easily become “the best Italian players watching the World Cup from home again.” Italy has enough talent to populate half the list, but that would make this exercise a little less interesting and frankly a little too depressing for anyone who remembers them as a world power.
1. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — PSG — Georgia
Kvaratskhelia is the player I’ll miss watching most at this World Cup. There are more famous names on this list and maybe a couple players with longer résumés, but “Kvaradona” is the type of player who makes a neutral stop what they’re doing. His languid style along with his bearded shaggy look make him feel like a throwback to grainy footage of World Cups from the 70s or 80s.
Kvaratskhelia plays with a rare combination of chaos and control, where it looks like he is improvising every touch but somehow still ends up exactly where he meant to go. He can beat a defender on either side, whip in a cross, cut inside to shoot, or turn a harmless possession into a panic situation in about two seconds.
The shame is that Georgia had finally started to feel like more than just a fun underdog story. Their Euro 2024 run introduced a lot of casual fans to Kvaratskhelia and gave Georgia a real identity built around one elite attacker who could tilt a match by himself. But the World Cup is a different beast, and Georgia still did not have enough around him to survive qualification.
At club level, Kvaratskhelia has moved from Napoli star to PSG centerpiece, and he recently scored as PSG clinched another Ligue 1 title and assisted on the goal that clinched their spot in the Champions League Final. It’s a shame that an exciting player like this will miss out on the World Cup at the peak of his prime.
2. Dominik Szoboszlai — Liverpool — Hungary
Szoboszlai is probably the most complete attacking midfielder not going to the tournament.
He is not quite as electric as Kvaratskhelia, but he may be more useful over 90 minutes. He gives you ball progression, set pieces, defensive work, pressing, leadership and the occasional goal from absurd distance. He is one of those players who seems to play with a permanent chip on his shoulder, which can be both his greatest strength and occasionally his undoing.
For Hungary, he is asked to be almost everything. He has to be the creator, the emotional leader, the set-piece weapon and the player opponents worry about first. That is a lot to ask in international soccer, where even very good teams can look clunky without enough attacking outlets.
He has been deployed all over the field for Liverpool this season, from right back to central midfield, but will miss out on the highlight of the international stage as Hungary didn’t have enough support around him.
3. Gianluigi Donnarumma — Manchester City — Italy
Donnarumma is still just 27, which is almost ridiculous given how long he has been around. The crazy part is that Donnarumma has still never played in a World Cup. Luckily for him, he should have a couple more shots at reaching the tournament.
Donnarumma was a teenage prodigy at AC Milan, then Italy’s hero at Euro 2020, then PSG’s Champions League-winning goalkeeper, and now Manchester City’s No. 1. He won the Yashin Trophy again in 2025, which is a pretty good reminder that this is not just name recognition.
Donnarumma is the most symbolic of Italy’s incredible run of failed qualification attempts. He has already had a career most goalkeepers would dream of, but there is still a World Cup-shaped hole in it.
4. Federico Dimarco — Inter Milan — Italy
Dimarco is probably the Italian player who would have been the most fun to watch in this tournament.
Modern soccer has blurred the line between fullbacks, wingbacks and midfielders, and Dimarco is one of the best examples of that evolution. He is technically listed as a left wingback, but that undersells what he actually does. He is basically a playmaker starting from the left side of the field. He can hit early crosses, switch play, arrive at the back post, take set pieces and hammer in the occasional ridiculous goal.
For a neutral viewer, he is much more interesting than the standard defensive fullback who just keeps his shape and avoids mistakes. Dimarco plays like he believes every touch should move the game forward. That can come with some defensive risk, but it also gives his teams an attacking dimension that is hard to replicate.
Inter have been one of Europe’s best and most cohesive teams, and Dimarco has been a major part of that identity. Inter just completed a domestic double, another reminder that Italy’s national team failure is not because the country lacks elite players.
5. Alessandro Bastoni — Inter Milan — Italy
If Dimarco is the fun Italian absence, Bastoni might be the most frustrating one.
Bastoni is exactly the type of defender every elite team wants now: big enough to defend the box, calm enough to play through pressure, and skilled enough to break lines with his passing. He is not just a center back who clears danger. He helps create the attack. On the left side of a back three, he can look almost like an extra midfielder when his team has the ball.
That skill set should be perfect for international soccer. In a tournament where teams do not have months to build chemistry, having a defender who can simplify buildup and find passes into midfield is incredibly valuable. Bastoni gives you that, while still offering the size and defensive instincts you need against top strikers.
Instead, he becomes another entry in the growing “great Italian players who have never played in a World Cup” file. There is no way to say that without it sounding absurd. Italy have Donnarumma, Dimarco, Bastoni, Barella, Tonali, Calafiori and more, and yet the World Cup will go on without them.
6. Victor Osimhen — Galatasaray — Nigeria
Osimhen might be the player on this list who would have scared defenders the most.
He has a dangerous combination of speed, power and violence in the box. He plays like every cross is a personal challenge. He attacks space relentlessly, presses center backs, and turns hopeful balls into real chances simply because defenders do not want to deal with him for 90 minutes.
Nigeria’s failure to qualify is second only to Italy for wasted talent in this cycle. The Super Eagles had Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Victor Boniface, Samuel Chukwueze and plenty of other recognizable names, but still could not find their way through. Their playoff loss to DR Congo on penalties means Osimhen will miss a second straight World Cup in what should be the prime of his career.
At club level, Osimhen has continued to score at a ridiculous pace. His move to Galatasaray was a huge deal in Turkish soccer, and he reached 50 goals for the club in record time.
7. Bryan Mbeumo — Manchester United — Cameroon
Mbeumo has turned himself from a very good Premier League player into someone who now feels like a legitimate star-level attacker.
For years at Brentford, he was easy to underrate. He did a little bit of everything: pressed hard, made smart runs, created chances, finished well enough, and fit perfectly into a team that was greater than the sum of its parts. Then he moved to Manchester United and showed that his game was not just a product of Brentford’s system. He could carry more responsibility and still produce.
For Cameroon, Mbeumo would have been the kind of player who gives a team real transition danger. He is not just fast, he is direct. He gets the ball and immediately makes defenders make decisions. That matters in a World Cup, especially for teams that are not going to dominate possession against the favorites. A player like Mbeumo gives you an outlet and a puncher’s chance.
Cameroon’s miss stings because they were not some longshot minnow. They lost their CAF playoff path to DR Congo, with Chancel Mbemba’s late goal ending Cameroon’s hopes before DR Congo went on to knock out Nigeria as well.
8. Benjamin Šeško — Manchester United — Slovenia
Šeško is still more projection than finished product, but the projection is pretty tantalizing.
He is 6-foot-5, moves like a winger, and has the type of shooting power that makes every highlight look a little more dramatic than it should. Players with his physical gifts usually get described in lazy “next Haaland” terms, which is unfair to basically everyone involved, but you can see why people reach for that comparison. Big, fast strikers who can finish are always going to make scouts lose their minds.
The difference between Šeško and some of the older names on this list is that he is still figuring out exactly what he is. There are games where he looks like a future top-five striker in the world, and others where he can drift in and out. That is normal for a young forward, but it would have been fascinating to see him in a World Cup setting where one big moment can change the way people view a player.
For Slovenia, the miss is especially disappointing because Šeško and Jan Oblak gave them two genuine high-end talents at opposite ends of the field. That is usually enough to at least make a team annoying to play against. This time, it was not enough.
9. Robert Lewandowski — Barcelona — Poland
Lewandowski is not this high because he is still the player he was five years ago. He is not. But even the diminished version of Lewandowski is still one of the great strikers of his generation, and it feels wrong that his World Cup career may end this way.
Poland lost their playoff final to Sweden, and afterward Lewandowski hinted that his international career could be nearing its end. He is Poland’s all-time leading scorer and most-capped player, with 89 goals in 165 appearances, which is the kind of national team record that may stand for a very long time.
The frustrating thing with Lewandowski internationally is that Poland rarely had the team to match his level. At Dortmund, Bayern and Barcelona, he played in systems designed to generate chances for him. With Poland, he often had to survive on scraps, hold up hopeful long balls, and wait for one or two moments a game. That is a hard way for any striker to live, even one as clinical as Lewandowski.
He did get to play in multiple World Cups, so this is not the same kind of tragedy as Donnarumma or Osimhen. But it still feels like the tournament is losing one last look at an era-defining No. 9.
10. Carlos Baleba — Brighton & Hove — Cameroon
Baleba is the least famous player on this list, but he might be the one casual fans would have discovered during the tournament.
He is the type of midfielder who jumps off the screen. Strong, quick, aggressive, comfortable carrying the ball through pressure and willing to put in the defensive work. Brighton have become a finishing school for high-upside midfielders, and Baleba looks like another one in that line. He is not yet as established as some of the names above him, but the tools are obvious.
For Cameroon, Baleba would have given the midfield real bite. Pairing him with Mbeumo in transition could have been a lot of fun, with Baleba winning the ball or driving through midfield, Mbeumo sprinting into space, and Cameroon suddenly turning defense into a chance. That is exactly the kind of thing that can make a lower-seeded team dangerous in a short tournament.
The World Cup often creates breakout stars. Baleba had the profile of one. Instead, his first real global showcase will have to wait.