Víctor Muñoz has been named in Luis de la Fuente's 26-player Spain squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America even though an injury already kept him out of the friendly in Puebla. The call-up puts the 22-year-old winger and forward in the middle of Spain's tournament plans at the exact moment his fitness is under watch.
That is why his name is drawing attention now. Muñoz has built a reputation around pace, dribbling and the kind of one-on-one play that lets him beat defenders from wide areas or when he drifts into forward positions. He is one of the most promising attacking players in Spanish football, and his rise has been fast enough that a World Cup squad place no longer feels like a surprise.
His path has moved quickly. Born in Barcelona in 2003, Muñoz came through the FC Barcelona and Damm youth systems before joining Real Madrid's youth teams. He later made his first-team debut in a Clásico at Camp Nou and also played in the FIFA Club World Cup, a set of steps that turned him from a youth prospect into a player already tested on a major stage.
He then signed for Osasuna in July 2025 on a contract running to 2030, with Real Madrid keeping 50% of his rights. The move has worked immediately. In his first league season, Muñoz became Osasuna's best-rated player and scored against Real Sociedad and Espanyol, numbers that explain why Spain are willing to include him now despite the setback.
The injury is the one detail that stops the story from being fully tidy. Muñoz was already concentrated with Spain when he missed the Puebla friendly, and there is still no firm public answer in the available facts on how long the problem will affect him or whether it will limit his minutes at the World Cup. That uncertainty matters because Spain have not just called him up as a name for the future; they have brought him in to be available now.
Off the field, Muñoz has kept to a routine that fits the image he presents. He describes himself as coming from a very normal and very hard-working family, with a father who works as a healthcare orderly and a mother who left her job as a hairdresser after a health problem in one hand. He regularly sees a sports psychologist, beginning in-person sessions during his time in Madrid and continuing them online from Pamplona, because he treats the mind as another muscle that has to be trained along with the legs.
For Spain, the judgment is clear: Muñoz is no longer only an emerging winger with a clean profile and quick feet. He is part of the World Cup conversation, and the next question is not whether he belongs in that picture but how much of it he will be able to play through while carrying the injury that interrupted his preparation.
