World Cups have always loved a family storyline, and the next edition may add to the 27 father-son combinations already recorded in tournament history.
The names open doors to attention, not to minutes. International football is still ruthless. Form, fitness and timing decide everything.
Haaland is the most established. He already looks like one of the defining forwards of his generation, and a World Cup appearance would add another chapter to a family story that began when Alfie Haaland represented Norway in 1994.
Giuliano Simeone feels different for another reason. Being the son of Diego Simeone brings instant scrutiny, especially at club level, but reports say he has also grown into a more relevant option for Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina setup.
Luca Zidane may be the most intriguing case. The son of Zinedine Zidane was long associated with France at youth level, yet his senior international future now sits with Algeria after his debut in 2024.
Francisco Conceição has already supplied headline moments for Portugal, while other reports point to names such as Sebastian Berhalter, Angus Gunn and Lee Taeseok as part of the same wider trend. The pattern is clear: football legacy still matters, but only if the player can make the name feel secondary.
That will be the real storyline to watch over the next year - not whose father played before them, but who arrives in 2026 looking ready to own the stage themselves.