Mystic, Pundits and Supercomputer Weigh In on Who Will Lift the World Cup
The 2026 World Cup celebration gets underway at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, where 48 national teams will battle for football’s most coveted title over 104 matches. Just before sports fans settle in front of their screens, here is a roundup of the most intriguing predictions, from the mystical world to supercomputers and data scientists.
"The living Nostradamus" sees fire and orange. The 39-year-old Brazilian mystic Athos Salome, known in the international press as "the living Nostradamus," has released his official prediction for the tournament. Salome, who made his name after correctly predicting Argentina and France’s reach the 2022 World Cup final, and also predicted the coronavirus pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, says his visions this time are "painted in vivid colors."
"I see red. A lot of red or orange," the mystic revealed in an exclusive interview. "I see deep, dominant colors, colors of fire. The teams that survive this tournament will be the ones wrapped in the colors of flame."
That mystical prediction fits well with his list of favorites, which includes Spain, "the practical embodiment of prophecy," Portugal, which has a talented young generation and wears deep red, the Netherlands, which will bring the orange energy of flame as a "giant killer," along with England, France, Morocco, as the tournament’s dark horse, and Argentina.
BBC experts' panel: most back France On the human and professional side, BBC gathered top former players and coaches to offer predictions. Unlike the Brazilian mystic, there is broad support for Les Bleus.
In the panel’s tally, France received 9 votes as the clear favorite to win, including from Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Olivier Giroud and Chris Sutton. Shearer qualified that France will win "only if there are no internal wars in the dressing room, because of the number of stars who will have to sit on the bench."
England finished second in the panel with 7 votes, including support from Wayne Rooney and coach Thomas Frank. Frank explained, "England have insane individual quality, their midfield is very strong and under Thomas Tuchel they will be organized and united."
Mika Richards was the only panelist to go against the grain and pick Spain, because of their ability to control the ball.
Supercomputer and artificial intelligence: Spain on top When emotion and intuition are set aside and the numbers take over, the picture shifts in favor of the European champions. Opta’s supercomputer, which ran a computerized simulation of the tournament 25,000 times based on power ratings and betting odds, determined that Spain are the leading contenders to win with a 16.1% chance.
Right behind them in the supercomputer’s ranking are France with 13%, England with 11.2%, and Argentina with 10.4%.
Microsoft Copilot also aligned with the technological supercomputer and predicted that Spain will lift the trophy, while England will be stopped in the semifinals.
