Former England striker Michael Owen backs France to win 2026 World Cup

Former England forward Michael Owen believes his country does not have enough firepower in its arsenal to win a second Fifa World Cup crown just yet. Instead, the renowned soccer analyst has thrown his weight behind France as a realistic contender to win the 2026 tournament – which is set to be staged in Mexico, the US and Canada from 11 June.

Coincidentally, the opening match of the tournament will see co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa; a repeat of the 2010 World Cup opening match, when South Africa became the first African country to host the quadrennial soccer spectacle.

Bafana Bafana will be aiming to make it out of the group stages for the first time ever, in what will be their fourth World Cup.

While the South Africans’ targets are modest, a number of heavyweight nations will be targeting overall victory. But for Owen – a lethal striker who played for clubs such as Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United during his career – Didier Deschamps’ France side will be the best team in the world at the end of 23rd edition of the World Cup.

“Before the last World Cup [where France lost in the final to Argentina], I said France would win it. At the end of that last World Cup, I still believed France was the best team in the tournament. I think the same now,” Owen told Daily Maverick.

“France has the best players. Of course there are other contenders, such as Spain, Argentina and maybe Brazil – there are a lot of good teams. But if I had to choose one team, I’d say France.”

The 46-year-old pundit was speaking after being unveiled by Hollywoodbets as their newest brand ambassador. The Englishman has joined former South African soccer stars such as Teko Modise, Brian Baloyi and Jerry Sikhosana on the sports betting company’s roster of representatives.

Despite the knowledge that his country is desperately yearning for its first World Cup triumph since its one and only major trophy triumph at the 1966 edition of the global showpiece, Owen believes the Three Lions do not possess enough overall firepower to push all the way.

Thomas Tuchel’s men qualified for the World Cup with a perfect record, winning all their eight matches against teams such as Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra. During this qualification run, Tuchel’s team also scored 22 goals, while conceding none.

Not to mention that the English can call on some of the best players in the world, including one of the best strikers in history – Harry Kane. There are also stars such as Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, as well Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice.

However, Owen told Daily Maverick that they were far from being a complete team. Particularly in defence and especially considering that the competition they will face in North America will be much stronger than what they encountered in the qualifiers.

“From England’s point of view, it’s a hard World Cup for us. In the middle of the US summer, which is a very hot country… The conditions are not going to be brilliant for us,” Owen stated.

“There are also question marks about our defence, especially in the goalkeeping department. But we are good in attacking positions; we have some great attacking players, including Harry Kane. So, we have a chance. But I’m still backing France to win it,” the former forward added.

Expanded World Cup

Another major talking point before the World Cup (excluding the turbulent climate of the US under President Donald Trump) is the fact that this edition of the global showpiece will be the first to feature 48 participating countries. It’s an expansion from the 32-team tournament that began in 1998 and was abandoned after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

There has been opposition from various stakeholders involved in the sport, not least global player union Fifpro. The organisation has contended that the bloated format ignores player welfare and safety, with the total number of World Cup soccer matches moving from 64 to 104 as of 2026.

Owen says he understands both sides of the coin, especially as the expansion has handed countries such as Uzbekistan and Cape Verde a chance to participate in the tournament for the first time.

Even Bafana Bafana may have not qualified under the previous conditions. But because the guaranteed slots for Africa at the World Cup have grown from five to nine, they will be present.

“I can see the pros and I can see the cons. We like to see a competitive World Cup; we like to see competitive tournaments, full stop. Maybe there are some people who like to see teams winning 7-0,” Owen said. “But in the main tournaments, the qualification part works well in getting rid of the teams that are not going to be too competitive. I also understand that people want to see really good, high-level games.”

“On the flipside, football is everybody’s game. The world loves football. So, to have more people and more players taking part in a World Cup, more fans enjoying seeing their country playing in a World Cup? It might only happen once in a lifetime. So, for some countries it is a huge opportunity to play a part in something so huge,” he added.

“So I understand it from both sides. Fifa and other custodians of the sport are very open to increasing the popularity of the game around the world. This [expanded World Cup] is just another step towards that.”

Owen added that he has adopted Soweto side Orlando Pirates as his favourite South African team, before also remarking that the Premier League needs another wave of South Africans playing in it.

“We need more South Africans in the Premier League. We saw some over the years, but we need some more now. There’s Lyle Foster at Burnley, but there should be more,” said Owen.

In the past, players such as Quinton Fortune, Benni McCarthy, Lucas Radebe, Aaron Mokoena and Shaun Bartlett represented South Africa in England’s top flight. DM