The Champions League’s qualifying phases have already begun and the much-anticipated league phase will soon start. Every year, new players emerge as hopes for renewal, and in the 2026/2027 season, this will be covered with even more expectation with several players who appeared as rising stars at the World Cup.
For this reason, this list highlights a few players to watch in the biggest European club competition. Already established names, such as Lamine Yamal, are left out so the focus stays on athletes who still need to prove themselves at the highest level of world football. By getting to know these new faces, sports fans might be able to bet on individual awards at 1xBet and other similar platforms.
Nico Paz
Como was the big surprise of the last Italian Serie A. After all, the team had just been promoted from the previous division and, in its very first season in the top flight, achieved a historic fourth place. The team’s philosophy was based on players with potential for the future, but this already paid off sooner than expected. The biggest standout was Argentine Nico Paz, who ended up being elected the league’s best midfielder.
Now, it’s time for him to prove himself in the Champions League. This will be Como’s first appearance in the competition, and the fact of qualifying for the European elite has already secured Nico Paz a prominent role among the club’s historic players. The Italian team is doing everything it can to keep him on the squad, considering it has already turned down offers of 70 million euros for the player, having paid only 6 million euros for him in 2024. Besides Como, Nico Paz has every chance of being one of the standouts of the Argentine national team in the next World Cup cycle, with the potential to be one of Lionel Messi’s successors on the team.
Johan Manzambi
The wider football public did not yet know Swiss player Johan Manzambi before the World Cup. The athlete did not start the competition as a starter for Switzerland, but coming on during matches he was able to resolve games and took over the spot in the main lineup. By performing at a very high level in the world’s biggest competition, Manzambi showed that he is ready to prove himself as one of today’s great rising stars. At the World Cup, he scored 3 goals and provided two assists in 4 matches, being considered one of the tournament’s standout emerging players.
Last season, he stood out at European level playing for Freiburg, of Germany, a standout team in the Europa League. Now, he has transferred to Aston Villa and will make his Champions League debut seeking to prove he can already be decisive at the highest level. The English team acquired the player for 60 million euros, which shows how much the club believes in his potential.
Ayyoub Bouaddi
Bouaddi played for Lille, of France, last season, and those paying closer attention to football were already certain that he is one of the world’s great prospects. After the World Cup, everyone got to know him. He could choose to play for France or Morocco, and after not getting the expected opportunities with the European national team, he decided to represent Morocco. The choice proved to be right, since he was an absolute starter for the team at the World Cup and showed himself ready to perform at every level. The athlete is a modern midfielder fully aligned with the sport’s biggest tactical trends, being everywhere on the pitch with extreme intensity.
Now, in a massive deal worth around 100 million euros, Bouaddi will play for Manchester City. He is expected to be one of the pillars of the team’s renewal after Pep Guardiola’s departure and could establish himself as the face of the team’s new generation. The Champions League will be a trial by fire for the midfielder and, if he has a good performance, he will firmly establish himself as a candidate for one of the standout emerging players in the world.
Yan Diomandé
Ivorian Yan Diomandé was elected the Best Rookie of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season, and deservedly so. Playing for RB Leipzig, the athlete scored 12 goals and provided 8 assists during his breakout season. Right in the first World Cup match, in which Ivory Coast faced Ecuador, the player introduced himself to the world with a playing style that favors dribbles toward goal capable of breaking through any defense.
Proof that he is one of the world’s biggest rising stars is that he will now play for Real Madrid. After almost signing with other teams, he chose to play for the Merengues in a deal worth 125 million euros, which is impressive for being the biggest signing in Real Madrid’s history, a club known for always seeking to sign the best players in the world. However, he is not expected to be a starter right upon arrival, considering the team’s attack is already well established. So, he will have to make the most of any opportunity that comes up, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he soon took on a role in the main team.
For a few years now, Endrick has been considered one of the biggest prospects in world football, but the fact of having gone to Real Madrid ended up giving the Brazilian striker few opportunities to prove himself at the highest level. After all, it’s not at all easy to compete for a starting spot with Mbappé. When he played for the Spanish team in domestic cups, he performed very well, but some choices ended up not pleasing the coach at the time, Carlo Ancelotti.
For this reason, he was loaned to Lyon of France and finally performed at a high level in European football. Right from the first matches, he completely changed the way the French team played and had an enormous impact, even though he went through ups and downs after the excitement of his debut. In 18 matches for the team, he scored 6 goals and provided 7 assists, excellent numbers that qualified him to return to Real Madrid. The confidence is even greater than expected, since José Mourinho requested that the Brazilian stay with the team and even gave the striker the number 9 shirt.
Rodrigo Mora
Rodrigo Mora has already been standing out for some time at Porto, of Portugal, and positions himself as the biggest prospect in the European country. So far, he has only proven himself in the domestic league, and in 2026/27 he will have the chance to show himself in the Champions League. Due to Portugal’s strong squad, he ended up not being called up for the World Cup, and so he has not yet been able to show his credentials on a world stage. Evidently, everything will depend on Porto’s performance in the Champions League, which is unknown considering Portuguese teams have been marked by inconsistency in recent years, alternating between surprises and disappointments.
Dro Fernandez
Dro Fernandez is another player of Barcelona’s academy who decided to transfer to another club before establishing himself in the Spanish team’s professional squad. The choice proved to be a good one, since Dro went to Paris Saint-Germain, current back-to-back Champions League champions. While on one hand he will have the best possible environment to show himself as one of today’s great rising stars, it’s hard to imagine that the Spanish player will get opportunities in the main team, even though he has already played a few minutes in the competition last season.
Considering all the expectations surrounding the player, his minutes in the Champions League and French Ligue 1 will be especially relevant, since the domestic competition should offer more opportunities to play. Teamwork can greatly help Dro stand out. Anyone who considers going through the 1xBet registration will see that the French are once again the clear favorites to win the Champions League title.
Antonio Nusa
Norwegian Antonio Nusa is another example of RB Leipzig’s excellent scouting work. In the last Bundesliga, he scored 4 goals and helped the team qualify for the Champions League. At the World Cup, he was extremely useful for the Norwegian national team, even scoring the goal that helped the team qualify for the round of 16. Now, it is time for the winger to take a bigger step in his career and show at European level that he is one more player to join the great stars who have emerged from Norway in recent years.
Lennart Karl
While Bayern Munich has an extremely valuable squad filled with top-tier stars from around the world, the team is also known for giving many chances to new players. One of the main names of the new generation is Lennart Karl, a German attacking midfielder from Bayern’s emerging group. In the last Bundesliga season, he got his first big opportunities and, between games coming off the bench and starting, he has already reached the mark of 5 goals and 5 assists. The player was even called up by Germany for the World Cup, but ended up being cut before the debut due to an injury.
In addition to his good performance in the Bundesliga, Karl’s performance in last season’s Champions League drew even more attention. He has already scored 4 goals and provided two assists in the continent’s biggest competition, surprising numbers for a player still at the beginning of his senior career. Now, he can firmly show that he will be the standout player of the new German generation, a country that has been very disappointing on the world stage lately.