Who is the fastest soccer player in the world?
At every major tournament, fans compete with one another to answer a recurring question: Who is the fastest soccer player in the world? And could he beat Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth? The answer is often biased toward a player from the respondent’s favorite team. But here at Arkad, we’ll try to answer this controversial question with the utmost impartiality and credibility.
Before we begin answering, we must first establish a true reference speed to use as a guide in determining the players' speeds: the fastest person in history, Usain Bolt.
To begin with: How fast is Usain Bolt, really?
Usain Bolt, the world record holder in Race 100 meters (9.58 seconds, 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin); he set this time during that race An average speed of 37.58 kilometers per hour For the entire 100-meter distance.
This figure does not represent Bolt's top speed. In the 100-meter dash, the runner reaches peak acceleration and top speed between the 60- and 80-meter marks. It was precisely during these meters that Bolt recorded an instantaneous speed of 44.72 kilometers per hour, which is the fastest speed ever recorded for a person running on foot in history.
The difference between these two numbers is significant, even though they refer to the same runner in the same race; one is his average speed over a distance of 100 meters, and the other is his speed at a specific point in time. Keep these numbers and the difference between them in mind, because they’ll explain everything later on.
First Round of the 2026 World Cup: An Unexpected Surprise
When FIFA Released Speed Data From the opening round of the 2026 World Cup, the top-ranked team was an unexpected choice: Jordan Boss, the Australian left back, with a top speed of 36.7 kilometers per hour, during his country's match against Turkey.
Right behind him was Erling Haaland, with a speed of 36.5 kilometers per hour. As for Kylian Mbappé, known worldwide for his extraordinary speed, he finished in Ninth, at a maximum speed of no more than 35.1 kilometers per hour.
Based on the data from this round alone, the fastest player was Jordan Boss.
The Fastest Player After the World Cup Ended
The World Cup is a long tournament; teams that advance to the final four play eight matches, and the statistics change with every game. By the quarterfinals, in France’s match against Morocco, Mbappé recorded a top speed of 37.6 kilometers per hour... the highest figure in the entire tournament, leading by about 2 km/s over his closest rivals, Ashraf Hakimi and Erling Haaland (35.6 km/s each).
In other words: The same player who was ninth in the first round ended up in first place at the end of the tournament. The answer, which was “Boss” in the first week, became “Mbappé” in the last week.
Is Mbappé the “fastest” soccer player?
Completely unrelated to the World Cup, data from the Soccer Observatory (CIES) For the 2025–2026 UEFA Champions League season, the roster reveals a completely different lineup:
| Ranking | The player | The Club | Speed |
| 1 | Anthony Gordon | Newcastle United | 37.92 km/s |
| 2 | Anthony Ilanga | Newcastle United | 36.65 km/s |
| 3 | Ashraf Hakimi | Paris Saint-Germain | 36.40 km/s |
| 4 | Nuno Mendes | Paris Saint-Germain | 36.12 km/s |
| 5 | Carlos Forbes | Club Brugge | 35.93 km/s |
Anthony Gordon actually recorded a higher top speed than Mbappé at the World Cup (37.92 vs. 37.6 km/h). Mbappé himself does not appear among the top five fastest players in the Champions League for that same season.
Conclusion: There is no definitive “fastest player”
The title changes depending on the player’s form and the circumstances of the match. Jordan Bos was the fastest for a week. Mbappé was the fastest for a tournament. Gordon was the fastest for an entire season in a different competition. None of them holds the title of “fastest” permanently, because top speed isn’t a fixed number—it’s a fleeting moment measured in a specific match, and it’s renewed with every new appearance.
Comparison with Usain Bolt
Even the highest speed recorded for any soccer player in this comparison (37.92 km/h for Gordon) is still slower than Bolt’s actual top speed (44.72 km/h) by approximately 7 kilometers per hour.
The reason is that Bolt is an athlete who specializes entirely in short-distance sprints; throughout his career, he has trained to squeeze every fraction of a second out of his body over a distance of just 100 meters. A soccer player, no matter how physically talented, does not focus his training on speed; soccer training includes tactical, technical, physical, individual, and team drills. It is a game in which a player distributes his energy over 90 minutes of intermittent running, passing, and tactical positioning—not on a single sprint calculated with scientific precision.
This difference does not diminish the speed of soccer players; rather, it serves as a reminder that every sport cultivates a different kind of speed. And in the world of pure top speed, the track remains a realm of its own.
Run… Your Story 🏃
See also:
How Far Did the Players Run During the 2026 World Cup – Urkod
