Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)

Achraf Hakimi closes this list because he represents the tournament's most reliable source of magic outside the superpower nations. The PSG right-back — though 'right-back' undersells a player who functions as a winger, playmaker and counter-attacking outlet simultaneously — is the superstar engine of a Morocco side that produced the defining underdog story of the modern World Cup era, reaching the 2022 semifinals as the first African and first Arab nation ever to go that far. Four years later, the Atlas Lions are nobody's secret: previews from TRT World, Goal and The National all rank Morocco at or near the top of the dark-horse hierarchy, with a squad deeper than the one that shocked Spain and Portugal in Qatar. Hakimi's club season at PSG reinforced his standing as the best attacking fullback in world football, and his partnership with Brahim Díaz gives Morocco's right side a creative double-threat that few defenses at this tournament can match one-on-one. Born in Madrid to Moroccan parents, Hakimi's choice to represent Morocco has become one of international football's great what-if reversals — Spain's loss compounding every time he gallops past a winger who is supposed to be marking him. The tactical blueprint Walid Regragui built — compact defending, lightning transitions, set-piece discipline — remains intact, and it is a blueprint specifically designed to beat better-resourced teams in knockout football. Morocco's 2022 run ended with a nation in tears and a continent inspired. Hakimi, now 27 and in his absolute prime, has been explicit that the goal this time is not a fairy tale. It is the final.