World Cup Dark Horse Predictions: Norway, Ecuador and Panama fancied

The FIFA World Cup gets underway on Thursday and we at Betfred HQ can't contain our excitement. Tournament fever has swept over the Betfred Insights team and we're here to help you with any last-minute bets before the action begins.

Everyone has a rough idea of the teams to look out for as potential champions, but how good are you at picking out the surprise packages? Below we run through our World Cup dark horse predictions.

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New customers only. Register, deposit with Debit Card, and place first bet £10+ at Evens (2.0)+ on Sports within 7 days to get £30 in Sports Free Bets & £20 in Bet Builder Free Bets within 24 hours of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility & payment exclusions apply. T&Cs Apply.

Conor: Norway

You're probably booing at your screen right now because this is probably not the biggest outside-the-box prediction you'll see in this category. But hey, at least I've not gone for the perennial dark horses Turkey.

There are a few teams I think may be in for a good tournament, including Ecuador, Colombia and Japan, but I can't seem to look past Norway.

A lot of people are expecting them to fare well because of their excellent qualifying campaign. They won all eight of their fixtures to top their group, scoring a whopping 37 goals in the process. Sixteen of them were provided by their all-time top scorer Erling Haaland, who was born to play on this stage.

World Cup Predictions

The Lovene have such a nice blend in their squad and the most attractive thing about them is that they have players who can give Haaland the service he requires. Not to mention that they also have two very capable striking options to support him in Alexander Sorloth and Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Martin Odegaard should be the big creative influence from midfield. He's someone in need of rediscovering his confidence as injuries over the last two years have seen him lose a step in an Arsenal shirt. A positive World Cup campaign could help Odegaard return to the peak of his powers.

Norway are looking good ahead of this World Cup, yes, but it's their first appearance at the finals for 28 years. In their group, they are up against well-seasoned nations in France, who are one of the pre-tournament favourites, and Senegal.

The group stage is not likely to be a walk in the park for Stale Solbakken and his players, but I think they can hold their own. They are the third seed most of the big dogs were hoping to avoid, so should they get through Group I, they will have many sides trembling at the thought of facing them during the knockout stage.

I believe that if they do make it out of the group, then a run to the quarter-finals is very much possible. Haaland has to be considered in the Golden Boot race and his goals could hold so much weight when it comes to Norway's progression through the World Cup.

Simon: Ecuador

I like the look of Morocco and Japan. But Ecuador are my dark horse.

Five goals conceded in 18 South American qualifiers is the best defensive record anywhere on the planet. A defence of Joel Ordonez (Club Brugge), Willian Pacho (PSG), Piero Hincapie (Arsenal), Purvis Estupinan (AC Milan) - shielded by Moises Caicedo (Chelsea), is simply sensational.  Their manager Sebastian Beccacece likes to shut teams out and that should make them extremely dangerous in North America.

They finished second behind Argentina in South American qualifying despite being docked three points for using false birth documents for Bryan Costillo. They beat Argentina 1-0 at home, lost 1-0 away. We can expect tight games with only a handful of goals, and this rock-solid defence should serve them well. The one concern is that they don’t score many goals, with Enner Valencia up top captain at 36 years of age scoring six in qualifying. Kendry Paez is the young superstar who could catch the eye.

Placed in a group with Germany, Ivory Coast and Curacao, we can expect them to finish second, but they could stop Germany and cause a shock. If they do finish second, Senegal or Norway await in last 32, but in a collision of the dark horses - defence can beat attack. They will then play the winner of Brazil or Japan in last 16 and I think they can win that, possibly on penalties. I’ve got them meeting England in the quarters. Who knows what happens next. 

Nick: Panama

Panama aren't dark horses to win the whole thing, or even reach the latter stages of the tournament, but at 7/4, I make them dark horses to qualify from Group L at the expense of Ghana (8/13).

The Black Stars have a much more talented crop of players than Los Canaleros, but they failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, played between December 2025 and January 2026, finishing bottom of a group containing Angola, Sudan and Niger without a win (D3, L3); they only scored three times, too.

To their credit, they topped their World Cup qualification group, collecting 25 points from 10 games against Madagascar, Mali, Comoros, Central Africa and Chad, but their form has been awful since November last year.

Ghana have played six friendlies since wrapping up their qualifying campaign, losing the first five to Japan (0-2), South Korea (0-1), Austria (1-5), Germany (1-2) and Mexico (0-2) before drawing with Wales (1-1) last week. Out of those six sides, only Wales will not be appearing at this year's World Cup.

Panama, meanwhile, have only lost two of their last 19 games in regulation time, suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to Mexico on 23 January and going down 6-2 to Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on 31 May. They held World Cup-bound Bosnia-Herzegovina to a 1-1 draw last week and beat the USA 1-0 in the CONCACAF Nations League in March last year, so they have picked up some solid results over the past 18 months or so.

I don't expect Panama to get much joy out of England or Croatia, but if they beat Ghana, they stand a good chance of progressing to the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-place sides, and if the stars align, they could get a favourable draw and end up in the last 16.

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