FIFA World Cup 2026
penalty takers

Marko Arnautovic still looks like Austria's safest World Cup first call because the stronger competitive trail from 2024-25 still points to him. But the March 2026 friendly window gave Marcel Sabitzer the freshest direct...

Kevin De Bruyne is Belgium's strongest current direct penalty signal. The freshest competitive evidence is emphatic rather than thin: he scored both of Belgium's penalties in the 4-2 World Cup qualifying win away to Wale...

Bosnia and Herzegovina are no longer a pure blank file after the March play-offs. There still is not a clean recent Bosnia in-match penalty to settle the order by itself, so this should not be treated as a high-confidenc...

Luka Modric should now be treated as a high-confidence Croatia primary, with one important caveat: at his age, availability and minutes still matter. The deeper Croatia picture is a dual-taker system rather than a contra...

Czechia's March play-off run sharpened the file. Patrik Schick scored the in-match penalty against Republic of Ireland in the semi-final, which is now the strongest direct evidence in the current Czech trail. Tomas Souce...

UEFA's qualifier report states Kane added a first-half penalty as England sealed qualification in Riga. That keeps him as England's clear first-choice taker, with Bukayo Saka the strongest secondary on both club-level ro...

The FFF match report lists Mbappe scoring from the spot against Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier, which keeps him as France's clear first-choice taker. With Griezmann retired from internationals, the backup order is less...

Joshua Kimmich is still the best current Germany lead because he actually took and scored the World Cup qualifying penalty against Luxembourg on 10 October 2025. Kai Havertz remains the clearest alternative, but he misse...

Memphis Depay is the Netherlands' primary penalty taker when he starts. The 2025 evidence trail is strong enough to stop hedging: Depay took and scored the big senior penalties against Spain and Finland, while Cody Gakpo...

The match Il Margine audit shows Haaland missed an early penalty and still scored a hat-trick against Israel. The miss does not change the hierarchy; it is still direct evidence that he is Norway's first-choice taker. Ma...

The match Il Margine audit shows Ronaldo took Portugal's penalty against Republic of Ireland, even though Kelleher saved it. That keeps him as Portugal's primary taker in the current cycle, with Bruno Fernandes the clear...

McTominay is the best current Scotland penalty call. He won and converted the decisive spot kick against Greece in March 2025, and there is no stronger recent senior evidence pointing elsewhere. Che Adams remains the cle...

The match Il Margine audit shows Oyarzabal converted Spain's late penalty against Bulgaria and had already scored from the spot against the Netherlands in March 2025. He is the strongest current first-choice signal for S...

Viktor Gyokeres is now the right Sweden World Cup call. The decisive evidence is the March 2026 play-off semi-final against Ukraine, where UEFA recorded him winning and converting the penalty as part of his hat-trick in...

Granit Xhaka is Switzerland's clearest current penalty taker. The Swiss FA's official match logs and report show him converting penalties against Sweden in both qualifier meetings in October and November 2025, which is t...

Hakan Calhanoglu is one of the cleaner calls in the whole tournament file. The Turkiye national-team penalty log shows him converting against Bulgaria in World Cup qualifying in November 2025 and against Germany in the M...

Lionel Messi remains Argentina's obvious first-choice taker when available, and the March 2026 Zambia friendly actually reinforced that rather than weakening it. Argentina won a second-half penalty and Messi, who was alr...

Raphinha still looks like Brazil's safest first-choice call because the latest competitive senior penalty on the board remains his conversion against Colombia in March 2025. Vinicius Junior remains the best tournament-le...

James Rodriguez is still the best current Colombia call, but the hierarchy should stay at medium because it has looked genuinely disputed rather than fully locked. FCF's November 2025 report states he opened the scoring...

CONMEBOL recorded Enner Valencia scored Ecuador's winner from the penalty spot against Argentina in the final qualifying matchday. That is strong recent first-choice evidence. Gonzalo Plata is the clearest secondary beca...

Julio Enciso is the clearest current Paraguay taker. The key point is not just that he scored against Uruguay in June 2025, but that Paraguay kept faith with him after the earlier Venezuela miss. Spanish-language evidenc...

Federico Valverde is now an even cleaner Uruguay primary. The older Copa America shootout order already pointed strongly in his favour, but the March 2026 friendly at Wembley added the freshest direct evidence when he co...

Jonathan David is the strongest current Canada call and should be treated as the leading World Cup candidate. He was trusted with an in-match Gold Cup penalty against El Salvador in June 2025 and also opened Canada's sho...

Curacao is now strong enough for a medium reviewed call. The official Bermuda qualifier report gave the first in-match penalty to Leandro Bacuna, then later showed Jordi Paulina winning and scoring another penalty in the...

Duckens Nazon is Haiti's strongest current penalty taker. The Concacaf match notes show him scoring three penalties across two Nations League matches against Aruba in October 2024, while Frantzdy Pierrot added a later pe...

Raul Jimenez is Mexico's strongest current World Cup penalty candidate. The key direct evidence is his stoppage-time winning penalty against Panama in the 2025 Concacaf Nations League final, and that sits comfortably wit...

Panama is still one of the most mixed boards in Concacaf, but it is now strong enough for a medium reviewed call. Jose Fajardo scored the Nations League quarter-final penalty against Costa Rica in November 2024, Adalbert...

Christian Pulisic remains the strongest USA penalty candidate when the main squad is together. The freshest clean senior in-match conversion in the official trail is his penalty against Uzbekistan in 2023, while the 2025...

Martin Boyle is the best current Australia call, but only at medium confidence because the Socceroos have used more than one taker in this cycle. The strongest recent evidence is Boyle converting the March 2025 World Cup...

Mehdi Taremi is the clearest current Iran taker. AFC match records show him converting the in-match penalty against Syria at the Asian Cup and then remaining Iran's central scorer through the successful World Cup qualify...

Amir Al-Ammari has the strongest direct Iraq evidence right now because The national-team penalty log records him converting Iraq's late World Cup qualifying penalty against the UAE in November 2025. That is the cleanest...

Ayase Ueda should now be treated as one of the strongest World Cup penalty calls in the whole file. The key new context from the Japanese press is that Hajime Moriyasu moved away from the old volunteer system after the Q...

Ali Olwan is now the clearest Jordan penalty taker. The direct evidence is strong: Il Margine audit shows him converting the World Cup qualifying penalty against Oman in June 2025, and he also scored from the spot in the...

Son Heung-min should now be treated as a high-confidence Korea Republic primary. The Il Margine Korea file is stronger than the surface-level summaries suggest: Son scored an in-match penalty against Jordan at the Asian...

Akram Afif is one of the cleanest calls on the page. He scored a hat-trick of penalties in the Asian Cup final against Jordan and then followed it with another official senior penalty against North Korea in World Cup qua...

Salem Al Dawsari should now be treated as a high-confidence Saudi Arabia primary. The key point is not whether he scored the latest penalties but that he kept taking them in the biggest matches: he took Saudi Arabia's pe...

Eldor Shomurodov should now be treated as a high-confidence Uzbekistan primary. The pattern is very consistent: captain, all-time leading scorer, penalty taker in historic moments, and still trusted after misses. He scor...

Riyad Mahrez is the best current Algeria penalty call. The strongest recent evidence is his AFCON 2025 winner from the spot against Burkina Faso, which restored him as the clearest direct senior signal after the more mix...

Ryan Mendes is one of the cleaner African calls on the board. CAF recorded him scoring the late AFCON knockout penalty against Mauritania, and Il Margine audit later shows him converting Cabo Verde's qualifier penalty ag...

Yoane Wissa is the strongest DR Congo call because CAF explicitly recorded him scoring the crucial in-match penalty in the AFCON quarter-final win over Guinea. That is still the clearest clean senior spot-kick evidence i...

Franck Kessie is still the best current Cote d'Ivoire answer. He took and scored the huge AFCON knockout penalty against Senegal and also converted the decisive final kick in the shootout. Later qualifier evidence agains...

Mohamed Salah remains Egypt's clear first-choice taker, but Omar Marmoush is the right secondary now. CAF's World Cup qualifying round-up against Ethiopia explicitly listed both players converting penalties in the same m...

Jordan Ayew is Ghana's clear current penalty taker. CAF recorded him scoring twice from the spot against Mozambique at AFCON 2024, and he then converted Ghana's World Cup qualifying penalty against Chad in March 2025. Mo...

Brahim Diaz is the clearest current Morocco primary. The deeper AFCON 2025 scan now strengthens rather than weakens that call: he took the March 2025 World Cup qualifying penalty against Tanzania, scored again from the s...

Sadio Mane remains the best current Senegal call, but only at medium confidence. The file is mixed rather than clean: Mane scored the South Sudan qualifier penalty in November 2023, Ismaila Sarr took the penalty against...

South Africa is a mixed board once the full African cycle is included. Teboho Mokoena converted the AFCON qualifying penalty against South Sudan in November 2024, but the most recent senior in-match penalty in the file i...

Tunisia is now strong enough for a medium reviewed call, but the hierarchy is genuinely split. Elias Achouri converted Tunisia's World Cup qualifying penalty against Malawi in March 2025, but Ismael Gharbi then took and...

Chris Wood remains the obvious New Zealand primary because he is the captain, the central scorer and the focal point of the side that qualified. The clearest secondary clue comes from the Fiji qualifier, where Wood had a...