Panama is back at the World Cup. The side sealed its place at the 2026 finals with a 3-0 win over El Salvador last November after topping its Concacaf qualifying group, a result that sent it through for only the second time in its history.
That is why the Panama Fifa Ranking search is landing now: the draw is set, the stakes are clear and Panama knows exactly who is waiting. Ghana, Croatia and England are next, with the first two games in Toronto on 17 June and 23 June before England in New York/New Jersey on 27 June.
For Panama, this is not just a return. It is a measure of how far Thomas Christiansen has taken the team since 2020. Panama conceded only four goals in the final group phase of qualifying, a sign of a side that has become harder to break down and more comfortable keeping the ball than the one that went to Russia 2018 and lost 6-1 to England.
The shift has changed the way Panama plays and the way it is judged. Christiansen’s side usually lines up in 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, but can drop into a back five against stronger opponents. The team now leans on organised defending, quicker transitions and more physical duels, which helped it reach the final of the 2023 Gold Cup and the quarter-finals of the 2024 Copa América. That run is part of the reason Panama now speaks about the last 16 as a target rather than a fantasy.
Michael Murillo sits at the centre of that ambition. The 30-year-old Besiktas right-back, with more than 90 caps, is Panama’s talisman. He grew up in Colón and shared a room with his mother and siblings, a detail that still defines the edge he brings to the team. Around him, Adalberto Carrasquilla supplies the creative spark and Aníbal Godoy remains the captain and the heart and soul of the side.
There is still a catch. Panama says it wants to get out of the group, but the old memory has returned with the draw: England is there again, the same team that put six past Panama in 2018. Christiansen has said the team wants to compete and get out of the group, and his players have echoed that confidence, but the margin for error is thin when one opponent has already shown how severe the punishment can be.
Panama will now have to turn qualifying form into tournament points. If it carries the control and discipline it showed in Concacaf into a group that also includes Ghana and Croatia, the road to the last 16 is real. If not, Russia 2018 will remain the reference point, and not the one Panama wanted to leave behind.
