With everyone getting in on the World Cup excitement, which club teams are most like some of the countries taking the football world by storm?
July 14, 2026 by Aidan Thomas in Opinion
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 club season is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
A few weekends ago, my eyes were on the two premium sporting events of the weekend – the 2026 World Cup and Pro-Elite Challenge East, which truly kicked off the 2026 club ultimate season. So of course, it felt natural to me to start chewing on an extremely relevant concept — what are the World Cup comparisons for teams across the various club divisions? So without further ado, introducing some 2026 Club Teams…World Cup style.
Portland Red Tide: Morocco
Can we interest you in a Morocco-Red Tide comparison? We’re taking this one with the idea of remembering a team that made an inspiring run in their past tournament, but they now enter the new season/World Cup with enhanced expectations. Morocco played much more like a favorite this time around and took seven points out of nine in the group stage, and after toppling Netherlands and Canada, they made it back to the deep stages of the tournament, this time with a target on their back.
Compare that to Red Tide, who made a surprise run to Nationals as the sixth seed in New England last year, but they’ll certainly enter 2026 on the radar after the offseason acquisition of Rowan McDonnell. He can take some of the load off Stewart Kelley, who posted a double-double at 2025 Nationals.
For Morocco, getting to semifinals was a pleasant surprise in 2022, and in 2026, it was closer to the expectation. For Red Tide, 2025 Nationals felt like an ahead-of-schedule result, but the fellas from Maine will enter 2026 with expectations to earn a bid of their own and be competitive at Nationals after an 0-6 tournament ended their 2025 campaign.
San Francisco Polar Bears: Norway
For the World Cup enjoyers, you know Norway have been VERY fun to watch so far — excluding their game where they benched starters versus France — with seven goals in two games, buoyed by the electric Erling Haaland and his four goals. Norway are not exactly a traditional power — this is their first World Cup in 28 years, and they’ve never made it past the Round of 16. However, heading into this World Cup, Norway were such a popular dark horse pick that they were almost overqualified for the dark horse category. They made good on all who followed the trend, as Norway beat Brazil to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in their nation’s history.
That’s how I feel about San Francisco Polar Bears: they have not made Nationals since 2022, made it past quarterfinals since 2015, or won a title (their only one) since 2010. All of those droughts could be liable to stop this year, as Polar Bears have made some incredible additions to the roster that should have this team making some noise as the new pieces gel. D-I Women’s ROTY second runner-up Noah Fong, First Team All-American Chagall Gelfand, and Cal Poly SLOMotion’s ZsaZsa Gelfand provide an injection of collegiate talent. Former Oregon Ego star Itay Chang, veteran Lexi Zalk, and 2025 men’s club champion Byron Liu (who comes over after ten years with Revolver), are notable additions that could have the Polar Bears being Norway-like — that is, an electric dark horse in the mixed division.
Chicago Machine, New York XIST, New York BENT: Netherlands
I’m a big proponent of cheating and getting more than seven people on my line. It’s a great way to win ultimate games if you don’t get caught1. In reality, I just have decision-making issues when it comes to picking exactly seven teams to feature.
So Machine, XIST and BENT get the nod as the best teams in each division with a strong chance at earning their first-ever title. That earns them the Netherlands comparison, as the Dutch are largely considered the most prominent nation of men’s footballers to have not won a title2. For all of these programs, they’ll hope to avoid Netherlands’ 2026 fate, which was a very unfortunate Round of 32 draw with top-10 Morocco despite winning their group.
For XIST, they’re coming off three semifinals appearances in four years, with a runner-up finish last year. Assist-leader Sadie Jezierski is back, as is goals-leader Oliver Chartock. Jolie Krebs and Emily Barrett will continue to be major contributors, and Theo Shapinsky, Theresa Yu, Ben Katz, and Emma Piorier highlight the eye-opening additions that have XIST ready to challenge for their first title. Of course, the season-opening loss to Philadelphia AMP at PEC East wasn’t exactly the start New York wanted, but a resurgent Sunday run to the final, including a win over Hybrid, proved this team’s mettle.
It’s nearly unfathomable that Machine haven’t reached the summit of the men’s club ultimate scene, but they haven’t. Alongside their veterans Nate Goff, Pawel Janas, Jack Shanahan, Johnny Bansfield, Kyle Rutledge, Tim Schoch and more, Machine continue to upgrade, particularly with collegiate talent. This year, they bring Elliot Hawkins, Callahan winner Zeke Thoreson, and three-time defending club champion Aaron Bartlett into the mix. Is it the year for Machine?
BENT are probably the biggest dark horse of the group, sitting just outside what I consider the top three contenders in the women’s division. Maybe that makes them the best Netherlands comparison, as the Dutch are not really considered one of the top contenders this year. Sage McGinley-Smith is back for year two with BENT after her OPOTYium finish to her collegiate season with Stanford. She’ll no doubt be a favorite target of Yina Cartagena, back for year six with BENT. Abby Hecko and Ella Juengst return as part of their contributing recent college graduate corps, and they’ll have big things in mind for the Netherlands/New York BENT squad this season.
San Francisco Fury, DC Scandal, Boston Brute Squad: France, Spain, Argentina
Yes, more cheating. This is the division, in my opinion, with the clearest top three teams, very similar to the World Cup where the 2024 Euro Champions Spain and 2022 finalists France and Argentina remained the favorites entering 2026.
Who you pick to assign to each country is a bit of a dealer’s choice. For my money, I’d take Fury as France — boasting a championship and a runner-up finish in their past two World Cups. They’re the top power but one looking to avenge their recent finals loss. A couple of UNC Pleiades alumni in Dawn Culton and Alex Barnett may be the additions needed to get back to the top.
I’d take Brute Squad as Argentina, the defending champions looking to do it again with a strong roster. In reality, Argentina are really reliant on their aging veterans, and I’m not sure I have a Messi comp on the Brute Squad roster, but Brute Squad are leaning into the surge of Tufts EWO with a healthy dose of that 2026 squad that was a point away from making the college championship. OPOTY Lia Schwartz returns, and ROTY runner-up Ellie Lemberg makes her Brute Squad debut.
And give me Scandal as Spain, the team that’s a bit further removed from their most recent title, but whose injection of young talent could be the X-Factor to push them over the top. It’s hard to draw comparisons between Lamine Yamal and Kat McGuire, Lily Johnson or Erica Birdsong as Scandal’s younger newer stars, but maybe those additions, plus that of longtime Rally star Sami Smalling, are among the keys that push Scandal over their two fellow favorites in the division.
Seattle Sockeye: Germany
This one just felt perfect. It’s kind of the team that in the 2000s and mid-2010s was one of THE teams to beat. I still remember Germany beating the snot out of Brazil in the 2014 semifinals en route to a title. That put an exclamation point on a four-World Cup run that saw them reach the semifinals all four years, with two title game appearances, two third-place finishes, and a championship. Of course, they then haven’t escaped group play the most recent two World Cups, and it’s been a little bit since we’ve seen Germany truly reclaim their place near or at the top of the international soccer world.
The timeline is somewhat comparable to that of Seattle Sockeye. Sockeye had windows of pure dominance, but it’s been a bit of a recent slide in terms of success by their historical standards. Four straight championship appearances from 2004-2007 aligned with the start of the Germany soccer golden era, and two championship appearances in 2013 and 2015 sandwiched Germany’s 2014 World Cup win. Sockeye’s 2019 title extended the height of their run a little past that of Germany’s, who underperformed in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
In 2026, the expectations are similar. After consecutive group stage exits, Germany enter somewhat in the bottom end of the title contender tiers. They put together a middling group stage effort, entered bracket with middling expectations and underwhelmed, losing to Paraguay. They could have made a deep run, but no one was particularly shocked by their early exit. Sockeye failed to qualify for Nationals in the 2023 season, made prequarters in 2024, and then quarterfinals in 2025. But unfortunately, with no Johnny Malks and Declan Miller this year, matching that quarterfinals feat would be very difficult. If you squint really hard, you could maybe see Sockeye making a run through the bracket, but a fairly early exit would hardly be a surprise.
Boston DiG: Brazil
DiG get the Brazil Award. That is the “really, you’d think they’d have better recent results, maybe this year is the year..?” award. Since winning the 2002 World Cup Title, Brazil have exited in quarterfinals in four of the last five tournaments, with their lone semifinal appearance ending in that aforementioned 7-1 thrashing to Germany. Brazil are always mentioned as one of the elites in the international soccer world, yet their results of the past two decades don’t quite match up.
DiG don’t nearly have that history — they came into existence in 2016 with a bang, making the bracket in their debut season…yet DiG have not made it past quarterfinals in their decade of existence. Last year felt like the season, but the New England squad, seeded second at Nationals, dropped a game to tenth-seeded Johnny Bravo in pool play and squandered a late lead against eighth-seeded Philadelphia Pacmen. The “can’t perform in the clutch” allegations will continue to follow DiG until they put together a Nationals performance to squash them.
Brazil looked quite promising in pool play at this World Cup, and a soft draw in the bracket looked to be in their favor. Yet they needed a comeback to get past Japan and then faltered against Norway, who largely dominated the Brazilian side.
DiG, for their part, rebounded from an early pool play loss at PEC East to absolutely run the gauntlet with wins over the top three seeds, Washington D.C. Truck Stop, Chicago Machine, and New York PoNY. Similar to how Brazil’s bracket draw does little but heighten the pressure around the storied Brazilians to make a deep run at the World Cup, a PEC East title does not lessen the pressure for DiG; rather, they just showcased to everyone they have a roster that can win a title, and now they have to back that up in October.
Savannah Conspiracy: Cape Verde
The fan favorite that steals your heart. This is more in relation to 2025 Savannah Conspiracy, but the team will certainly remain an intriguing underdog out of an equally intriguing mixed ultimate scene in Georgia. And whether it’s Conspiracy or the latest miracle underdog run to Nationals, what better comparison than the Cinderella story of the 2026 World Cup in Cape Verde, the smallest nation to ever make the World Cup knockout rounds? Now, did Cape Verde face rumors of potentially enjoying a few ice cold beverages during pool play in their road to the knockouts…probably not…but Savannah Conspiracy is fresh off a stunning Cinderella run to Nationals last year as the ninth-seed in the Southeast. In just their third year as a team, Conspiracy will look to prove it wasn’t a fluke, with veteran assists-leader Kevin Harrow and Georgia Southern star and goals-leader Taya Sterkenburg returning.
Take it a step further, and remember that Conspiracy pushed eventual 2025 semifinalist Drag’n Thrust to 10-10 before fading at the end. Despite being their lone loss of the tournament, Cape Verde’s performance against Argentina stole hearts, allowing all sports fans to dream and remember that the impossible sometimes happens between the white lines, when all storylines are thrown out and the game is played.
