Who should be your World Cup second team?

June 1, 2026 No Comments

Who should be your World Cup second team?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Who should be your second team?ByGary RoseBBC Sport journalistPublished1 hour agoThe World Cup is almost here and you will no doubt have mapped out your team’s potential route to the final.But what if the worst happens and your nation is unexpectedly dumped out early? Do you just enjoy the rest of the tournament as a neutral observer, or is it best to have a back-up team?Handily, we here at BBC Sport have produced a small guide and a quiz to help you choose who your second team should be.Let us know who you have chosen at the bottom of this page.What information do we collect from this quiz?

Decide by picking your favourite kit

World Cup kits — Image caption,

What is your favourite World Cup kit?

An easy way to decide your second team at a major tournament is by going with the one who play in the kit you like the most – that’s what this writer did with Jamaica for the 1998 World Cup.

With an expanded tournament involving 48 teams, who each have home and away shirts, that’s A LOT of kits to decide from, so we’ll give you a bit of a helping hand by picking out some of our favourites.

Mexico (home)

Speaking of the 1998 World Cup, Mexico’s home shirt pays homage to their iconic one from that tournament with another Aztec-inspired design. The kit features an imprint of the Aztec sculpture, the Piedra del Sol.

France (away)

A bold but beautiful choice for France’s away shirt as they go for a mint green base with copper logos and detailing. There’s a lot of thought put into that design as it matches the surface of the Statue of Liberty, which was gifted to America by the French back in 1886.

Curacao (away)

The World Cup debutants are bringing a bit of sunshine with their away kit, with the vibrant design inspired by the colours of the buildings on the Caribbean island.

Uruguay (away)

This is proving one of the most popular kits for the World Cup, with its eye-catching navy blue base with a striking design that pays tribute to Uruguay’s history as the first-ever World Cup winners. They hosted and won the tournament in 1930 and the imprint on the shirt features part of the Estadio Centenario, alongside the wings of the Jules Rimet trophy.

Pick your favourite World Cup kits

Decide by biggest underdogs

A billboard showing the Curacao team heading to the World Cup — Image caption,

Curacao are one of the teams who will be making their World Cup debut this summer

Everyone loves to root for the underdog so why not choose your second team by backing the team that appears to have the odds stacked heavily against them?

The obvious place to pick an underdog team will be from one of the World Cup debutants, with four nations playing at the tournament for the first time.

The tiny Caribbean island of Curacao will become the smallest nation to participate in a World Cup when they take on Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in Group E.

Curacao, 37 miles off the Venezuela coast, has a population of little more than 150,000 – similar to Huddersfield – and a land area of 171 square miles, smaller than the Isle of Man.

Cape Verde, meanwhile, are the third-smallest nation after Curacao and Iceland to reach the World Cup.

An archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of fewer than 525,000, Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and first attempted to reach the World Cup when it was held in Japan and South Korea in 2002. They face Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H

There are two debutants from Asia in Uzbekistan and Jordan.

The Uzbeks, who were the Asian Cup semi-finalists in 2011, ended their long wait for qualification under 2006 World Cup-winning Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro. They will hope to make an impact in a group featuring Portugal, Colombia and DR Congo.

Jordan, meanwhile, are ranked 64th in the world and their progress has been steady, reaching the final of the 2023 Asian Cup, when they were beaten by hosts Qatar. Argentina, Algeria and Austria await in Group J.

Decide by being a night owl

England fans don’t have to worry about massively late nights for the group stages with two of their three games kicking off at 21:00 BST, and one at 22:00.

Scotland supporters will have to stay up later with two of their three games kicking off at 23:00 while their opener is at 02:00.

But if you are up late anyway, what’s a few hours more to follow a team whose group games all take place in the middle of the night?

Algeria have it worst for such times with their three kick-offs 02:00, 03:00 and 04:00.

Fancy challenging yourself to stay up even later? Then Tunisia have one game kicking off at 05:00. Their ‘earliest’ game kicks off at midnight.

Decide by following your club’s players

Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya makes a save — Image caption,

Premier League champions Arsenal have three players in the squad of European champions Spain

There will be plenty of Premier League representation at this summer’s tournament with more than 100 players who play in the English top-flight heading to north America.

Manchester City are set to have the most players are the tournament with 15 included in World Cup squads.

After English players, the most they have from one country is Portugal with Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Bernardo Silva, although the latter departs the club this summer.

City fans may also want to keep an eye on Uzbekistan to see how Abdukodir Khusanov gets on as his national team makes their World Cup debut.

Premier League champions Arsenal will have 14 players at the tournament with three in the Spain squad – David Raya, Martín Zubimendi and Mikel Merino.

Crystal Palace also have a sizeable representation at the World Cup with 10 players. Two of those – Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix – are in the France squad.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest fans might fancy keeping an eye on New Zealand with Chris Wood and Tyler Bindon in their squad.