Is European soccer on decline? Many big names facing elimination in early rounds

[rachael9385]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

[Wakate]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

There is no way African teams are dominating when I know that only two or 3 African team may qualify for the round 16 stage.
European countries are trying too and we have seen how the South and North American countries are the top dominance of this 2026 wold cup. The United States, Canada, and others have qualified for the round 16 stage waiting for more victories.

[alani123]

As football federations becomes bigger in countries around the world we're going to be seeing this.

Until a few years ago new Zealand didn't even have a domestic league for instance. Australia's ones was also super disorganised. They qualified for the world cup through and even fenced well for themselves.

China and India for instance have never scored in this competition even. Even north Korea had done better than them.

There's huge untapped potential in Latino America and African countries. Millions of young talents waiting to be picked up. The countries that are putting even the basic efforts to make academies are seeing it pay off.

Other countries were doing better in the past but the financial crisis hit them hard like Kenya who have fallen in the rankings. But as soon as a national federation rebuilds itself the national tram could be winning championships on the local level again because they have a huge pool of local talent.

[Daniel91]

European soccer does not seem to be facing any decline like you are saying,  this is a competition where some teams has got to be eliminated for the others to continue and enable  for determination of a winner,  African sides are suffering elimination too , I mean if all these teams do not get eliminated,  who then will.

There is still quite a good number of European teams in the competition,  it is only but a football norm expected to happen that is happening and not like  there is some sort of different thing happening.

Spain and France haven't left the World Cup yet. 😉 They're still playing, still scoring goals, and are still the most likely winners of the World Cup (unless, of course, Brazil and Argentina are stronger).

Therefore, personally, I wouldn't talk about a crisis in European football. With more teams participating in the 2026 World Cup than ever before, the game has become more unpredictable. As a result, several strong European teams lost to their opponents. However, the strongest European teams are still battling for the top spot.

Personally, I'm betting on Spain to win because the French team has too much ambition and individualism among its young players. It's a good thing this isn't a fencing competition, and they weren't given foils! Otherwise, they probably would have stabbed each other! The ambition and arrogance of young players, in my opinion, could seriously harm the success of the French football team. 🤷

Yes, we can't talk about the crisis of the entire European national football team, but we can talk about the crisis in some of the former European giants and champions, countries like Italy and Germany, which after winning the championships in 2006 and 2014 did nothing at the World Cups, and in the case of Italy, they can no longer even qualify for the World Cup.
Also, I would not agree that Spain is among the main favorites to win the World Cup, for me the main favorite is still France.
Spain has been in crisis for a long time and since 2010 they have not had any notable results at the World Cups. Now they have finally achieved victory in the knockout stage, but they still have to show whether they are ready to go all the way and fight for the trophy.
France is definitely the strongest European team in recent years and in the last 2 World Cups they were finalists and won the trophy.
I think this is an extremely strong team and I honestly don't see who, apart from maybe Argentina, can stop them from winning a new world championship title.

[Alpha Marine]

What kind of analysis is this?
The only team that is a strong favourite for the World Cup that is not a European country is Argentina. France and Spain are all European teams.
If we go to the 2nd tier favourite, Portugal and England are European teams. The only non-European team in this list is probably Brazil. You can include Morocco if you're being lenient.

The best football is still in Europe. Football happens in eras. There was a time Brazil was the team to beat. They were always the favourites to lift the World Cup and had the best players. Germany, too, had an Era. They were in about 8 finals. The same for Italy. Right now, the football of these three countries has declined.
Now the dominant teams are Spain, Argentina and France. However, France has mostly always had a good team in its history.

African teams have not shown that they can compete at the top level. From my prediction, only Morocco and Egypt will make it to the round of 16 among African teams.
The World Cup winner will still be between a European country and Argentina. Morocco, Colombia and Brazil are not good enough to win these teams if they meet, but it's football, so let's wait and see.

[Webetcoins]

To be fair we still have plenty of them going into round of 16, and we are going to keep having that. Germany losing was just a fluke, and Germany has been on decline for a while now, but aside from that, England, France, Spain, Belgium, many teams are moving forward and will play very well.

I think we are going to see a European team win again too, that or Argentina those are the two options, the only team that has even a slightest chance to win that is not European is Argentina, all other possibilities are European, so there is no decline.

[Synchronice]

Italy, Denmark, and Serbia are out of this World Cup. After them, Turkey and the Czech Republic are out of action in group stage games. Their performances were not as expected and last night Germany and the Netherlands also facing surprising eliminations from the round of 32 on penalties.

In upcoming games, a few teams are also going to face possible elimination with this level of performance.
Now, it looks like European soccer is facing serious troubles.

Even there are plenty of teams are still in and have a good chance of winning the title like France, England, and Spain but I started to have a strong feeling like soccer in Europe is facing miserable problems with African countries dominating along with South American countries.
 
What are your thoughts on this?

European football clubs are the best in the world but we have to keep in mind that many of their best players are from South America and from other continents. These continents produce top attacking players but Europeans do not produce such top talent in attack. They also sometimes play too slowly and safely. But here is the thing too, at the moment France is probably the strongest in this World Cup tournament and most of the French players aren't actually French (I hope no one will argue with me). Spain is a good team, so is Portugal too but Portugal has lots of issues inside the team, players are good. I wouldn't say that European soccer is dead but the gap between European countries and South America/Africa is much smaller now, that's true.

[asriloni]

There are even still three european teams who are still sitting in the top 9 of winner odds. Those nations who are leaving just inconsistent countries. So i don't think the european teams are losing their grip in this world cup. It's disappointed some european power houses were eliminated, but it's due to the game between eu vs eu just like -

portugal vs croatia. So i don't think it's right to conclude european nations lost its dominance in wc.

[Renampun]

I don't think that the quality of European football has declined that much because the countries you mentioned don't represent the quality of European football as a whole.. europe also still has several representatives in the World Cup, so it's clear that their football standards are still very high. however, we can't deny that competition in football continues to grow, countries from Asia, Africa, and America are now much more competitive compared to previous World Cup editions, so we see many unexpected results from the current World Cup.

[Satofan44]

There are even still three european teams who are still sitting in the top 9 of winner odds. Those nations who are leaving just inconsistent countries. So i don't think the european teams are losing their grip in this world cup. It's disappointed some european power houses were eliminated, but it's due to the game between eu vs eu just like -

portugal vs croatia. So i don't think it's right to conclude european nations lost its dominance in wc.

Definitely, Germany got eliminated by an European country. What the fuck are you even talking about?  It has been noted in many topics in this section and many others that idiotic users need to stop cherry picking data and learn what is the proper way to address different topics.

I don't think that the quality of European football has declined that much because the countries you mentioned don't represent the quality of European football as a whole.. europe also still has several representatives in the World Cup, so it's clear that their football standards are still very high. however, we can't deny that competition in football continues to grow, countries from Asia, Africa, and America are now much more competitive compared to previous World Cup editions, so we see many unexpected results from the current World Cup.

It has declined significantly, and no amount of denial and wishful thinking is going to change that. If your quality standards are low or if you are unable to make unbiased comparisons, that is your issue and does not reflect the situation of the world.

The evidence on the decline is not based on a single tournament, the thread that is brought here just highlights the under performance again. Over the course of the past decades the gap between Europe and other parts of the world has been getting narrowed in terms of football, among other things. In the past you had European powers that were consistent in their domination, and these days they are not even intimidating opponents. Someone has already mentioned Italy's failure to qualify for several World Cups, then you have German with repeated early exits -- then you have the inconsistent performance of Netherlands, Belgium's complete failure of the "golden generation" and many other examples. During this same time, countries from all over the world whether Africa, Asian and North America have considerably improved in all aspects of football. So the days when the European teams could easily expect to defeat those countries are over, which shows a massive decline of the football in that area. Idiotic users of this forum need to learn how to use their brains, even if an European country wins this time it still does not mean that the European football is not on decline.

[yudi09]

Even there are plenty of teams are still in and have a good chance of winning the title like France, England, and Spain but I started to have a strong feeling like soccer in Europe is facing miserable problems with African countries dominating along with South American countries.
 
What are your thoughts on this?

For European national teams that were eliminated too early from the World Cup, this outcome was certainly not what they wanted. National teams that failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup—such as Italy—have sparked various speculations, including the perception that they have failed in both their domestic and national leagues.

Both the European teams that have already been eliminated from the World Cup and those still in the competition can serve as subjects for evaluation. England, for example, is a team whose performance hasn’t drawn much attention.

I see a decline in their performance, particularly in their domestic league. Most of the major teams there are filled with players from outside England, and very few members of the current English World Cup squad play abroad. Only Kane and Bellingham have ventured to play for teams outside England and secured starting spots there.
To me, that’s important. It’s crucial for the domestic league to be the top priority for players to challenge themselves.

[KTChampions]

There are even still three european teams who are still sitting in the top 9 of winner odds. Those nations who are leaving just inconsistent countries. So i don't think the european teams are losing their grip in this world cup. It's disappointed some european power houses were eliminated, but it's due to the game between eu vs eu just like -

portugal vs croatia. So i don't think it's right to conclude european nations lost its dominance in wc.

Well well well  
You must confess this: which of the four France - Portugal - Spain - England do you not consider a European country?  
Now let's look at the results of the round of 32: 4 African teams were knocked out by European teams, while only one European team lost to an African team. Hehe, it seems the balance of power here is the same as before.
Europe currently has a 0-1 score against South and North America (Germany and Bosnia have been eliminated).

[348Judah]

I don't think it is all about a decline in the European football participation that makes them not to go far in number for this world cup, football can be happening in such a manner that goes beyond our imagination, those you taught might have been knocked out are still performing better while those will least expect couldn't make it to this present stage or round, so this is not about Europe alone but any other continent could be affected in such manner depending on how the luck and performance they made determine their hedge in the world cup.

[CryptoYar]

Germany/Netherlands out of the picture in Round of 32 not only due to bad luck on penalties. It is massive change on international football front. While traditional good teams manage to sail through early knockouts, the rule that "you dont need to race hard against really hard teams" doesnt work during bigger round of the tournament periods.
As Morocco and Paraguay have shown, African and South American countries have been closing growth gap with fast physical preparation and deadly counter attacking change moves. European powerhouses France and England have other excellent depth to the squad and if they arent able to keep up speed demanded in this tournament, then their success won't count once they face similarly motivated underdog teams from around the world.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Modern football has changed a lot. I think teams that aren't considered top-level, like Germany, the Netherlands, and others, can lose, of course they can, it's football, they make mistakes. So Germany can't say that the mistake is their fault, just because they lost to a team that isn't top-level. I think that's being a very sore loser. I really didn't like Neuer's statements, he was very wrong about that.

[Silikiem]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

Previously there used to be so much competition between this European teams and for decade European teams have been performing very well when it comes to world football, only few American teams such as Brazil and Argentina comes close to challenging European teams for titles especially in the World Cup. But currently now, very few European teams are still leaving up to their hypes. Teams like France and Spain seems to be the only two European teams still maintaining their status in world football. Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Used to be major contenders in World Cup but now they can’t even compete as they used to before.

[Odusko]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

Really are African team dominating in this world cup?
For me I haven't really see that exceptional performance from African team that warrants to give them those amount of praises and even putting them at the same level with other regions who's teams are far more better than African teams in the World Cup.

[ejikeme24]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

Only five African country left in the FIFA world cup, and among this five countries the only country I know they may likely go far is Morocco while the rest are more likely to get knock out, these is just a speculation from me. I know there are a lot of changes in the FIFA world cup especially this season but one thing for sure is that those countries that usually get to the final stage knows themselves so all this hard that most of these countries are playing is just for the initial time because I believe when the time comes they will all go back to where they belong.

[Rubuchi]

Perhaps they are looking at the fact that African teams are now dominating but tend to forget that it's not about the beginning it is all about maintaining consistency. European teams are still very much in the game even though some teams have not been performing quite well but it doesn't mean that the European soccer is on decline, I Don't really agree with that point that OP made.

African teams are gradually elevating and I know a time will come when we will take over the world cup because we are generally known for greatness and perseverance as Africans. The only thing I think most Africans suffer from is some level of inferiority complex which plays out in our heads. When we meet with these European countries, there is this mindset that they are more privileged than us and as a result, we won't perform as good as they are. These things play out sometimes but today we have started building teams where 80 percent of the players are already used to playing with these European people in the club side and have been able to take out that stigma which is affecting our performance.

[uneng]

African teams are gradually elevating and I know a time will come when we will take over the world cup because we are generally known for greatness and perseverance as Africans. The only thing I think most Africans suffer from is some level of inferiority complex which plays out in our heads. When we meet with these European countries, there is this mindset that they are more privileged than us and as a result, we won't perform as good as they are. These things play out sometimes but today we have started building teams where 80 percent of the players are already used to playing with these European people in the club side and have been able to take out that stigma which is affecting our performance.

The problem with african teams is shooting. They are fast and have endurance, but lack accuracy. Their shots are too powerful when launching the ball to the attacker, and miss too many goals in the front of the goal. I've watched several matches from african nations, especially Senegal, and they could have won with 3 or 4 goals if they were more accurate when finishing the plays.

African teams are indeed improving, and in some aspects they are already superior to european national teams, but without scoring goals, there isn't victory in soccer. That is what they should pay attention to.