Elite Players Missing the 2022 World Cup

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The World Cup is where the best players worldwide show us what they’ve got. It’s where the world was introduced to Pele and saw the best of Ronaldo, Maradona, and Zidane. But the best players don’t always end up at the World Cup, as the following list shows. These are some top players that won’t feature at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Salah, the Merseyside maestro. He was the joint top goalscorer in 2021/22 and helped to shape the Klopp era at Liverpool football club. When he’s in form, he’s easily one of the best strikers in the world. But he won’t be at the World Cup. Salah’s Egypt was beaten by Senegal in the World Cup Qualifying playoff, falling at the final hurdle.

Erling Haaland (Norway)

Erling Haaland is the hottest property in world football right now. We all watched him set the Bundesliga alight and then wondered if he could do the same in the Premier League. He had his doubters, who were quickly dismissed after he bagged 15 goals in 9 Premier League games, including three successive home hat-tricks. Unfortunately, Norway finished third in Qualifying Group G and failed to make the cut.

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)

Algeria’s World Cup journey ended with Cameroon, who beat them by away goals. As a result, we won’t be seeing Mahrez in Qatar. The Manchester City attacker is sublime with the ball at his feet and can turn a game on its head in minutes. He was an essential part of Leicester City’s shock Premier League win and is considered one of the best African attacking players in the world.

Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)

After watching Italy win the European Championships in 2021, few expected them to fail during Qatar World Cup Qualification. But that’s what happened to everyone’s surprise. The Italians didn’t lose any group games. They drew half and scraped through to the playoffs, only to be beaten by North Macedonia. It means that we won’t be seeing Donnarumma at the World Cup. The PSG shot-stopper is one of the best goalkeepers in the world right now. He’s only 23 years old, so he still has years of peak form ahead of him and could go down in history as a true legend. The problem is that he’ll have to wait another four years to strut his stuff on the world stage.

David Alaba (Austria)

Alaba played over 280 games for Bayern Munich and then signed a 5-year contract with Real Madrid in 2021. He’s a consistent performer and one of Austria’s greatest-ever players. In fact, he has won “Austrian Footballer of the Year” eight times. However, he has yet to appear at a World Cup and won’t be making a trip to Qatar, either. Austria has been solid in European Championship Qualifying, making a good show at European Championship Finals. But they have struggled to translate that form to the World Cup and haven’t qualified since 1998.

Players Missing the World Cup through injury

After suffering a freak injury while playing for Roma, Paulo Dybala is now in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup. It’s not looking good for the creative forward. Paul Pogba and Wesley Fofana are injury doubts for France, Pedro Neto is injured for Portugal, and both Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker will be fighting to get fit for England. What’s more, we still have some football left to be played, so we could see many more top players drop out between now and the start of the tournament.

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