Morocco are gone. Egypt are gone. Every Muslim-majority nation has now been eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2026.
So if you only look at flags, the Muslim story ended in Boston when France beat Morocco 2-0.
It did not.
In fact, after spending this series tracking Muslim-majority countries, then building my Muslim-heritage World Cup XI and following which Muslim nations survived the knockout stages, I realised the more interesting question was hiding in plain sight: can a Muslim footballer still reach the World Cup final and materially decide it?
My first instinct was brutally simple. France and Spain have Muslim players. England and Argentina, I thought, do not. Therefore, with France playing Spain in one semi-final and England playing Argentina in the other, the mathematical pathway appeared to have been cut in half.
There is only one problem.
I was wrong about England.
England Have Djed Spence — And That Changes My Entire Premise
Djed Spence is Muslim. More importantly for this particular investigation, he has already been described as the first Muslim footballer to represent England’s senior men’s side and the first to play for England at a World Cup.
That is not a footnote. It changes the bracket.
