Assessing France and Portugal’s chances at the World Cup with squads featuring PSG stars

Just a before the start of the 2026 World Cup, a competition where numerous PSG stars are set to feature, let's take a look at France and Portugal's chance in this tournament as nine Paris Saint-Germain players in total between these two nations have great chances to lift the trophy at the end of the tournament.

France:

The PSG stars: Ousmane Dembélé, Desiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Hernandez and Warren Zaire-Emery.

The Group: Senegal, Norway, Iraq.

The Aim: Winning their third World Cup.

Their best ever performance: Winning the World Cup in 1998 and 2018.

The Manager: Didier Deschamps.

How big a role will the PSG players play? It’s tough to predict the exact makeup of France’s attack, as it features such a tremendous quantity of world class talent that only Deschamps himself will know exactly how he will calibrate the front line come next week’s tournament opener vs Senegal.

The only one of the five PSG players included in the France squad that will undoubtedly start is Ousmane Dembélé, the Ballon d’Or holder, although exactly where he starts in the attack is yet to be seen. Doué and Barcola will have significant minutes in attack, but most likely will feature as primarily bench options. Lucas Hernandez will not start initially, but could be an interesting option for Deschamps in situations where the French manager is trying to defend a lead, and Warren Zaire Emery will look to stake a claim as a starter in France’s midfield, although as of now he doesn’t seem to be favoured by the France coach who seems to prefer a pair of N’golo Kanté and Adrien Rabiot in the heart of France’s midfield.

Portugal:

The PSG stars: Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Joao Neves, Gonçalo Ramos.

The Group: Uzbekistan, DR Congo, Colombia.

The Aim: If not winning, at least an improvement on their quarter final display last time out.

Their best ever performance: Reaching the semi finals in 1966 and 2006 (finishing third in the former).

The Manager: Roberto Martinez.

How big a role will the PSG players play? Three of the four PSG players in the Portugal squad are all but undisputed starters: Neves, Vitinha and Mendes are not only going to feature in the first team, but are arguably Portugal’s three best players overall, and will have to be on top form should Portugal make a run deep into this World Cup tournament.

Ramos’ situation is more intriguing. The striker has featured at times for his country in the past, scoring a brilliant hat-trick in the round of 16 of the last World Cup against Switzerland, in a game in which he replaced the misfiring Cristiano Ronaldo. Ramos’ issue is that Ronaldo is still in the Portugal squad and is still expected to start up front for Martinez’s men – meaning that Ramos will be relegated to a substitute role despite his strong national team record. However, let’s not remember that Ronaldo ended up being dropped from the starting line-up after the group stages at the last world cup, and that the same thing could occur in this tournament if the 41 year old starts misfiring. One thing is for sure, whether it’s off the bench or from the start, Ramos will have his chance.

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