How Many Top-Five Players Does France Have On Its World Cup Squad?

France put the World Cup on notice after their convincing 3-0 round of 32 win over Sweden on Tuesday, and FOX Sports’ Zlatan Ibrahimović noted what makes the squad that talented – most notably the team's attacking trio of Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappé.

"Take the five best players in the world. Three of them are on France’s attack – Dembélé, Olise and Mbappé," Ibrahimović said after France's win, before adding Spain's Lamine Yamal and Norway's Erling Haaland to the list.

"[Lionel] Messi is in his own class. But three of the top five are in this attack. It’s not easy to make that combination."

France vs Sweden Extended Highlights 🌎🏆 2026 FIFA World Cup™ | Round of 32

Mbappé became the World Cup’s all-time leading goalscorer in a knockout stage, notching 10 goals after his pair of goals against Sweden. On top of that? Mbappé's 18 career World Cup goals is only behind Messi's 19 for the tournament’s all-time goalscorer.

Olise's 41 goals in 46 appearances for Bayern Munich instantly translated onto the France national team, whose talent in the attack has complimented Mbappé and Dembélé well. Through France's four World Cup games, Olise has already recorded a tournament-high five assists.

Ousmane Dembélé’s 2025 Ballon d’Or and Champions League title with PSG gave him the keys as one of the more powerful forwards in the game. Now with Les Bleus, his four goals, which included a hat trick against Norway on June Friday, this tournament continues to make him a dangerous player on the field.

What Ibrahimović also noted was how difficult it is to find a trio like this one that can create and produce, and drew comparison to a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain trio in Ligue 1.

"We had an example on PSG, when they had Mbappé, Messi and Neymar. It was not working 100%, but they don’t have this ego…" Ibrahimović continued. "And they also do the job off the ball, which is more important than on the ball. We know what they can do on the ball. They can decide the game by themselves, all of them."

Messi, Neymar and Mbappé played together from 2021–23 for PSG. Based on the combined talent for two seasons, not winning one Champions League title remained shocking, and was ultimately headlined by egos clashing. Between Dembélé, Mbappé and Olise, their chemistry on the field has delivered in the World Cup.

Les Bleus advances to the round of 16 and will face Paraguay on July 4 at Philadelphia Stadium.

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