World Cup diary: Lamine Yamal breaks into top-10 in rankings for creativity

The FIFA Power rankings, a data-driven measure of players’ performance launched during the World Cup 2026, is catching the imagination of the fans. The latest update (till Egypt’s first-ever win in the history of the tournament against Kiwis) throws up some interesting findings like Germany’s Denis Undav topscoring in the ‘attacking’ category in the match against Cote d'Ivorie, Mikel Oyarzabal of Spain in ‘creativity’ against Saudi and Belgian Brandon Mechele in ‘defending’ versus Iran.

The rankings, based on advanced analytics from each game, assesses contributions of players across three departments: attacking, creativity and defending after each game and the overall tournament. All outfield players will receive a score on a scale of 0-10 in the three categories: attacking, creativity and defending. Goalkeepers will be scored in possession and defending the goal. Once all teams have played once, a ‘Power Rankings Classification’ will be produced—showing the top 100 players in each category and the classification will then be updated after every match.

Germanys Undav, who came off the bench to score twice against Cote d Ivorie, climbed to the top of the attacking standings with 9.22 points, while Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo, Spanish winger Lamine Yamal and Japan striker Ayase Ueda have been among the biggest climbers following the latest round of matches.

While Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal (8.54) and Alex Baena (8.19) topped the attacking and creativity rankings, respectively, in their 4-0 win against Saudi Arabia, Yamal was in close quarters—finishing second and third in each category with scores of 7.65 and 7.60, respectively. The Barcelona star’s contribution extended well beyond his goal as he combined direct running with relentless progression, finishing the match with seven take-ons, seven ball progressions and five open-play attempts at goal.

The 18-year-old Yamal has now broken into the overall top 10 for creativity—climbing 24 places to eighth and also rose 71 places to 18th in the Attacking ranking. 

Mapping the defensive qualities, Belgium’s clean sheet against Iran owed much to the contribution of Mechele, who posted the highest defensive score of the match at 8.02. The defender recorded 13 possession regains, six interceptions and won six aerial duels—helping Belgium sustain attacks while limiting Iran’s opportunities to counter. His ability to break up play and quickly restore possession made him the standout defensive performer of the contest and saw Mechele soar 42 places up to second in the overall defending rankings.