Prateek Tanmay
3 min readUpdated: Jul 5, 2026 08:47 PM IST
Paraguay might’ve trapped him into a yellow from a forged foul, but Michael Olise continues to top charts for most assists with 5 at this 2026 FIFA World Cup. The supporting cast rarely gets the limelight and in a World Cup with Messi, Ronaldo, Haaland, Mbappe and Kane, might even completely be forgotten, but the spark-plugs, the switch-starters, the flintstones and match sticks lighting the fire have managed to imprint their genius on fan minds.
Olise is chasing down Pele’s all time record of 6 from 1970.
It starts with the braided ponytail of Olise – with delivery to both Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele taking him to 5 Assists from 5 games as France defeated Paraguay 1-0. He put himself in glorious company – Diego Maradona in 1986, and the last to get to 5 – the aptly named German Thomas Hassler in 1994. Olise is one short of Pele’s count of 1970.
Polish Robert Gadocha (1974) and Pierre Littbarski (1982) also had 5.
Olise is closely followed by Bruno (not Fernandes, who has recorded less than 2), but Bruno Guimaraes with 4 for Brazil. Brahim Diaz is the lynchpin for Morocco with 4. Roberto Alvarado has the chance to top up his 3 until now for Mexico, against England.
While Isak and Wirtz are out of the Cup, Martin Odegaard can resume service for Haaland, and increase his 3 assists. Patrick Berg has recorded 2 too for Norway.
Mark Cucurella seems to have helped much more, but his assists are punched at 2 until now for Spain – same as Dembele.
Anthony Gordon (England), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Mo Salah (Egypt), Kylian Mbappe and Bukayo Saka (England) are each on 2 Assists.
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1998 was a strange World Cup where the number of top assists was stuck at 3, but six players were on the list including Ronaldo and Dennis Bergkamp besides Messrs Laudrup, Veron, el Khalej, and Youri Djorkaeff.
In 2018, Russia, no player registered more than 2 assists.
At the last WC, champion Messi besides Kane, Bruno Fernandes, Antoine Griezmann and Perisic formed a formidable group of assisters worthy of a Golden Root.
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From FIFA 2026 records:
Michael Olise (France) – 5 assists
Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil) – 4 assists
Brahim Diaz (Morocco) – 4 assists
Roberto Alvarado (Mexico) – 3 assists
Alexander Isak (Sweden) – 3 assists
Martin Odegaard (Norway) – 3 assists
Florian Wirtz (Germany) – 3 assists
Houssem Aouar (Algeria) – 2 assists
Patrick Berg (Norway) – 2 assists
Marc Cucurella (Spain) – 2 assists
Ousmane Dembele (France) – 2 assists
Breel Embolo (Switzerland) – 2 assists
Julio Enciso (Paraguay) – 2 assists
Anthony Gordon (England) – 2 assists
Ryan Gravenberch (Netherlands) – 2 assists
Viktor Gyokeres (Sweden) – 2 assists
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) – 2 assists
Joshua Kimmich (Germany) – 2 assists
Johan Manzambi (Switzerland) – 2 assists
Kylian Mbappe (France) – 2 assists
Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia) – 2 assists
Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal) – 2 assists
Mohamed Salah (Egypt) – 2 assists
Nathan Saliba (Canada) – 2 assists
Crysencio Summerville (Netherlands) – 2 assists
Bukayo Saka (England) – 2 assists
Deniz Undaz (Germany) – 2 assists
Chris Wood (New Zealand) – 2 assists
