The 2026 World Cup is just over a month away, with the world’s best players contesting the biggest prize in football across the USA, Canada and Mexico from 11 June.

The 2026 edition sees a record 48 teams contest the World Cup across 104 matches, with final squad lists to be submitted in late May for each participating nation.

But while the build-up to the biggest event in sport is well underway, players must first navigate the final few weeks of the 2025/26 club season .

And the packed schedule has already proven too much for some players, with a number of stars from across Europe’s top leagues having suffered injuries to put their World Cup campaigns in jeopardy.

The likes of Kylian Mbappe , Lamine Yamal and Luka Modric are all facing a race to be fit in time for the tournament, though some stars have already been ruled out as their seasons end in heartbreak.

Here, The Independent takes a look at which players are facing a late battle to be fit in time for the summer and which stars have been ruled…