GOAL's World-Class Club 2026: Lionel Messi returns to football's most exclusive fraternity while two Arsenal stars earn membership - but Mohamed Salah among eight stars to drop out

Alisson's world-class club membership card is definitely under review, primarily because the Brazilian has been blighted by injuries in recent years. However, as he's once again showing this season, he remains an elite shot-stopper with an impressive range of distribution.

Liverpool really would be lost without him - as underlined by the fact that a goalkeeper who was supposed to be usurped by Giorgi Mamardashvili at this stage remains the Reds' No.1.

Thibaut Courtois’ status as the best goalkeeper in La Liga is undeniably under threat from Barcelona's Joan Garcia, but there's no way we could justify revoking his world-class status.

An incredibly consistent shot-stopper now in his ninth season as Real Madrid’s undisputed No.1, he was the main reason why a brittle Blancos backline conceded fewer goals than any other team in Spain last season, while the manner of Belgium’s World Cup elimination, coming after he was forced off through injury, underlined his continued importance to his country.

Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal brought in David Raya from Brentford in the summer of 2023, but the 31-year-old has taken his game to new levels in north London to establish himself as the undisputed top goalkeeper in the Premier League, winning back-to-back Golden Gloves in the process.

An outstanding shot-stopper who also commands his penalty area and can distribute the ball at an elite level, Raya has everything you would want from a modern-day No.1, with the only mark against him being that he has been unable to force his way into the Spain side due to Luis de la Fuente's loyalty to Unai Simon.

Pau Cubarsi is still only 19, but his world-class status is now beyond dispute. The Catalan defender was included in La Liga's Team of the Season for the second year in a row after helping Barca retain their title, before being named the best young player at a World Cup won by Spain.

At this stage, then, Cubarsi isn't just world-class; he might just be the best centre-back in the world!

From a purely footballing perspective, it's hard to find any faults in Achraf Hakimi's game. Paris Saint-Germain's game-plan simply wouldn't work without the multi-talented Moroccan, given he's as good going forwards as he is on the back foot.

We said last year that he's the most complete defender in the game - and, after another Champions League-winning campaign, we see zero reason to change our opinion.

Marquinhos proved himself a class act by immediately going to console Gabriel Magalhaes after his Brazil team-mate's decisive penalty miss in the Champions League final, but PSG's players have been praising his character for some time now.

The veteran centre-back experienced a lot of devastating defeats during his time at Parc des Princes, but its testament to his remarkable resilience - and enduring qualities as a player - that, at 32, he remains one of the best centre-backs in the game.

Nuno Mendes looked like the best left-back on the planet a year ago. Now he's proven it.

Much like his fellow PSG full-back Hakimi, the Portuguese is a tremendously well-rounded footballer who effectively serves as an additional winger in Luis Enrique's line-up. Mendes, though, is probably even quicker than his colleague, and it's actually hard to think of any forward who's ever really managed to consistently get the better of the 24-year-old over the course of 90 minutes.

William Saliba went close to making last year’s list but missed out because of a lack of major silverware and too few games at the very highest level. Things have obviously changed since then: the centre-back made a massive contribution to Arsenal ending their Premier League title drought and reaching the Champions League final.

It shouldn’t be forgotten, either, that France were not the same side at the World Cup without Saliba in the starting line-up!

Virgil van Dijk is a victim of his own success: he has an awful lot of critics mainly because he's so highly rated by others. Granted, he’s not the flawless performer he once was, but it doesn’t help that he’s having to hold together a brittle Liverpool backline almost single-handedly - and at 35.

Indeed, despite the Dutchman’s advancing years, he remains an ever-present in the Reds line-up, and it’s hard to think of another defender who could replicate what he’s doing at Anfield.

In all honesty, Jude Bellingham didn't have a great 2025-26 season, but if there were any doubts over the England midfielder's brilliance, they were dispelled in scintillating fashion at the World Cup.

Bellingham may have ended up regretting riling up Lionel Messi in the semi-finals, but the Three Lions wouldn't have even made it that far had it not been for their tremendously talented No.10, who silenced those who questioned his status as a starter with heroic contributions against Mexico and Norway.

We still suspect that Joshua Kimmich is still underappreciated by the wider footballing world. One would be hard pressed to find anyone within Germany who doesn't rate an incredibly intelligent player who is one of the game's best midfielders and one of its best right-backs too.

Former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola said 11 years ago that Kimmich had everything a top player could possibly want in his locker, and that's as true today as it was back then.

There were some doubts over Michael Olise's world-class potential when Bayern Munich bought him from Crystal Palace in 2024 for €60 million. However, the London-born France international is now worth at least three times that figure.

He has taken the Bundesliga by storm over the past two years, while at the same time lighting up last season's Champions League and then registering a record-breaking seven assists at the World Cup, making his addition to the World-Class Club inevitable.

Pedri may have lost his place in the Spain starting line-up during the World Cup, but there's no shame in being replaced by Fabian Ruiz - and besides, the 23-year-old still featured in every single game La Roja played during their victorious campaign, starting five of them.

Despite the worrying reappearance of some of his old muscular issues, the multi-talented midfielder also made La Liga's Team of the Season for the fourth time in five years by pulling the strings in another Barcelona title triumph.

Rodri couldn't have provided a more emphatic response to claims that injuries had dulled his efficacy, as the former Manchester City midfielder was magnificent during Spain's 2026 World Cup win.

Whether the 30-year-old maintains that form at new club Barcelona remains to be seen but what we can say now with greater certainty is that Rodri is one of the finest defensive midfielders of all time. And he’s clearly not done yet!

Fabian Ruiz has had his ups and downs, even at the Parc des Princes, where he didn't get off to the best of starts, but he’s now played a pivotal role in PSG winning back-to-back Champions Leagues.

Furthermore, Luis de la Fuente's decision to bring him into Spain's starting line-up during the knockout stage of the World Cup was a masterstroke, as the 30-year-old was outstanding in the key win over France in particular.

Certain players have the ability to make the game look ridiculously easy. Vitinha is one such player. There are far bigger and stronger midfielders out there, but few of them are capable of taking the ball off PSG's playmaker, as underlined by Arsenal's ongoing inability to get the better of Luis Enrique's side.

Portugal's World Cup campaign may have been a shambles, but Vitinha certainly wasn't to blame, making his continued presence in the World-Class Club an absolute no-brainer.

We left Ousmane Dembele out of last year's World-Class Club despite his inevitable Ballon d'Or win, because he'd only started to realise his potential nine months previously. We wanted to wait and see if he could maintain his fine form for a second consecutive season for the first time in his career and, generally speaking, he did.

The winger-turned-forward was integral to PSG retaining their Champions League crown, while he also belatedly broke his World Cup duck in North America, going on to score six times in total.

We can still understand why Liverpool felt £65.5m was a decent fee for a 28-year-old Luis Diaz, but there's no getting away from the fact that Bayern Munich got themselves a bargain.

The Colombian was absolutely sensational for Vincent Kompany's German title winners last season, scoring 26 goals and 19 assists. As a result, after several years knocking on the door, Luis Diaz deservedly gains entry to the World-Class Club.

Erling Haaland remains the most feared striker in world football. After claiming his third Premier League Golden Boot in four seasons, the Norwegian cracked America by showing off his sensational finishing and endearingly quirky personality during his nation's historic run to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, which featured a brilliant brace against Brazil.

Perhaps even more importantly, Haaland's all-round play improved last season, meaning it's now incredibly difficult to find any faults in his game.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia won’t win this year's Ballon d'Or, but that's really only because the Georgian didn't get to play in the World Cup. Were that tournament removed from the equation, it would be hard to look past PSG's wonderful winger.

He was the best player in last season's Champions League, as underlined by the fact that he became the first man to record at least one goal contribution in seven consecutive knockout games.

Kylian Mbappe may not be everyone's idea of a true team player, but his individual brilliance is beyond dispute.

The Real Madrid and France forward bagged more goals than anyone else in both La Liga and the Champions League last season (despite his side being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the latter), while he also top-scored at the World Cup to become the tournament's all-time leading marksman, ahead of Lionel Messi.

Look who's back! At 39 years of age, Lionel Messi has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he remains one of the very best players on the planet - if not the best.

Rodri may have made for a worthy winner of the World Cup's Golden Ball. but Messi's performances in North America were absolutely astounding, with the greatest of all time dragging a pretty average Argentina team all the way to the final.

Vinicius Junior is not playing well at that moment, and if he fails to arrest this current slump, he could be removed from next year's list. As it stands, though, he still has enough credit in the bank to retain his world-class status.

After all, we're talking about a winger who hasn't scored fewer than 22 goals across a single campaign since 2021, while he also netted three times for a pretty abysmal Brazil side at the 2026 World Cup.

It's hard to believe that Lamine Yamal is still only 19. The kid is already a three-time La Liga champion with Barcelona, and both a European and World Cup winner with Spain.

Truth be told, he wasn't at his brilliant best in North America during the summer (injury unquestionably played a part), but Yamal is a truly generational talent who had already racked up a career-high 24 goals in all competitions before his club campaign was brought to a premature end.

In total, eight players who were members of the World-Class Club in 2025 have been politely asked to leave 12 months later. The most high-profile is undoubtedly Mohamed Salah, whose form fell off a cliff during his final season at Liverpool before he joined Trabzonspor over the summer.

He is joined on the scrapheap by Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and Gianluigi Donnarumma, as well as their former team-mate at the Etihad Stadium, Bernardo Silva. The Portugal international now plies his trade at Real Madrid, where Antonio Rudiger is also licking his wounds following his removal from football's elite fraternity.

Ex-Madrid captain Dani Carvajal, who is currently without a club following his departure from the Bernabeu, also drops out, as does Inter centre-back Alessandro Bastoni and Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala, the latter of whom has endured a year of injury and illness issues that have hampered his form.