The right back position has never been more exciting.
What used to be a role defined purely by defensive discipline has evolved into one of the most dynamic positions in the modern game.
Today’s best right backs track back and tackle like defenders, drive forward like wingers, and create chances like midfielders.
The 2025/26 season has given us some outstanding performers across every major league, and the gap between the very best and the rest has never been clearer.
Who are the top right-backs in the world in right now? Let us find out.
Top 10 Best Right-Backs In The World (2026)
Here are the ten best soccer right backs in the world in 2026, counting down from 10 to 1:
10. Daniel Muñoz — Crystal Palace
Daniel Muñoz has been one of the most exciting stories in the Premier League over the last two seasons and his 2025/26 campaign has further confirmed that he is one of the best right backs in England.
He recorded 4 goals and 3 assists across 2,403 minutes in the Premier League, with a FotMob rating of 7.15, making him one of the highest-rated right backs in the division.
The Colombian scored the first European goal in Crystal Palace history during their UEFA Conference League campaign in October 2025, a moment that reflected how far both player and club have come in a short space of time.
His role under Oliver Glasner gives him enormous freedom to bomb forward from the right flank in a 3-4-2-1 system, which is why he often looks more like a winger than a traditional right back and why his goal and assist numbers are so impressive for a defender.
He was the man of the match in Crystal Palace’s 2025 FA Cup final win over Manchester City, providing the decisive assist for Eberechi Eze’s winner, and helped the club win the Conference League the following season.
Several top clubs including Manchester City, Manchester United, and Barcelona were reported to be monitoring him ahead of the summer 2026 transfer window, and he is heading to the tournament with Colombia as one of their key players.
9. Jonathan Clauss — Nice
Jonathan Clauss is proof that elite quality at right back does not always come from the biggest clubs.
The 33-year-old Frenchman has been outstanding for Nice in Ligue 1 this season, rated 6.96 and ranking as the highest-rated right back in the French top flight with 25 appearances and 2,231 minutes played.
He averages 0.8 shots created per 90 minutes, one of the best figures among right backs in the division, and his ability to deliver dangerous crosses and arrive late into the penalty area gives Nice an attacking threat that many bigger clubs would envy.
Clauss has spent his career building a reputation through consistent, high-level performances rather than big-money moves, and at 33 he shows no signs of slowing down.
He is one of the best French players in his position and remains one of the most reliable and experienced right backs in European football.
8. Denzel Dumfries — Real Madrid
Denzel Dumfries is one of the most physical and direct right backs in European football and has spent five seasons at Inter proving that he belongs among the best in the world at his position.
He recorded 3 goals and 1 assist in 20 Serie A appearances in 2025/26, and his physical impact on the game, winning aerial duels, driving forward with the ball, and creating danger from deep positions, goes far beyond what the statistics capture.
Dumfries was a key figure in Inter’s back-to-back Champions League final appearances, contributing two assists in their extraordinary 4-3 aggregate semi-final win over Barcelona in 2024/25, a performance that showed exactly the kind of player he can be in the biggest moments.
At 6ft 2in, he brings a physical presence to the right back position that is genuinely rare at the elite level, and his combination of aerial threat, stamina, and forward runs makes him one of the most difficult right backs in Serie A to play against.
He is one of the fastest players at his position in Europe and has now secured a move to Real Madrid.
You can find more players like him in our list of the best full backs in the world right now.
7. Matheus Nunes — Manchester City
Matheus Nunes has been one of Manchester City’s most impressive performers in 2025/26 and his conversion from midfielder to right back has been one of the most seamless positional transitions of any player in recent years.
He recorded 1 goal and 5 assists across 2,865 minutes in the Premier League, with a FotMob rating of 7.45, the highest of any right back in the division and one of the highest of any outfield player at Manchester City this season.
Pep Guardiola first started experimenting with him at right back in the 2024/25 season and the Portuguese international took to the role immediately, using his technical quality, positional intelligence, and ability to play between the lines to give City a genuinely different option on the right side.
He won the FA Cup and EFL Cup with City this season and was part of the squad that secured a second-place Premier League finish, contributing across every competition he was involved in.
6. Pedro Porro — Tottenham Hotspur
Pedro Porro has been one of Tottenham’s most reliable and energetic performers in 2025/26, making 34 Premier League appearances with a FotMob rating of 7.14, one of the highest of any right back in the division.
He recorded 1 goal and 2 assists in the league this season, but his numbers on crosses, chance creation, and forward runs paint a much fuller picture of his value to the team.
Porro averages 2.48 tackles and 0.96 interceptions per 90 minutes, making him one of the busiest and most active right backs in the Premier League from a defensive standpoint.
He played 13 of Tottenham’s 15 Europa League ties in the 2024/25 season, scoring the equaliser in the quarter-final against Frankfurt and the decisive goal in the semi-final against Bodø/Glimt to help Spurs reach the final, a campaign that cemented his place as one of the most important players at the club.
Now past 100 appearances for Spurs and a regular Spain international who was part of their victorious UEFA Nations League squad in 2025, Porro has become exactly the kind of right back every top manager in the world wants.
He is one of the quickest and most direct defenders in the Premier League, physically relentless going forward and dependable coming back.
5. Reece James — Chelsea
Reece James is the most versatile defender in the Premier League and one of the most technically gifted right backs in the world.
This season he has played at right back, centre back, and defensive midfielder for Chelsea, making 14 starts in the middle of the park and performing with the authority and composure of a natural deep-lying playmaker in each of them.
He recorded 89% pass accuracy and 54.1 accurate passes per 90 minutes this season, numbers that place him among the top passing performers in the entire league regardless of position.
James played a key role in Chelsea’s Club World Cup final appearance against PSG and signed a contract extension through to 2032 in March 2026, a statement of intent from a club building around one of the finest defenders in world football.
His crossing ability, defensive read of the game, and ability to drive into the opposition penalty area late make him one of the best full backs in football when fit and firing.
4. Jurriën Timber — Arsenal
Jurriën Timber has had an extraordinary season at Arsenal, cementing himself as the best right back in the Premier League and one of the finest in European football.
In the 2025/26 Premier League season, Timber recorded 3 goals and 5 assists across 2,457 minutes for Arsenal, with a FotMob rating of 7.26, the highest of any right back in the division.
He scored twice and assisted once in Arsenal’s 5-0 thrashing of Leeds United in August, was nominated for Premier League Player of the Month in October, and scored in the Champions League win over Bayern Munich in November, helping Arsenal top the European competition’s league phase with a perfect eight wins from eight.
What makes Timber so compelling is the completeness of his game, defending with aggression and composure, attacking with pace and purpose, and reading the game with a football intelligence that you rarely see in a player who only turned 25 this June.
He is a key part of the tightest defence in the Premier League, with Arsenal conceding just 27 goals in the entire 2025/26 season, the fewest of any team in England’s top flight.
One of the best young defenders in world football, Timber heads to the 2026 World Cup with the Netherlands as one of their most reliable and important players at the back.
3. Trent Alexander-Arnold — Real Madrid
Trent Alexander-Arnold is unlike any right back that has ever played the game before him.
His move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2025 ended his Liverpool era with five Premier League titles, a Champions League, and more key passes, assists, and set-piece goals than any other defender in the club’s history.
At the Bernabéu, he splits his time between right back and central midfield, and Carlo Ancelotti values his passing ability so highly that he uses him as a playmaker regardless of where he lines up.
His passing accuracy sits at 89% this season and he has contributed 4 assists in La Liga, a figure that would be significantly higher if Real Madrid’s attack were not already so loaded with elite talent.
Approaching 100 career assists, no other right back in football history has come remotely close to that number, and it tells you everything about how differently he approaches the role compared to every other defender in the world.
He is one of the most technically gifted players in the game regardless of position and heads to the 2026 World Cup with England as one of Thomas Tuchel’s most important and unique assets.
2. Jules Koundé — Barcelona
Jules Koundé has been one of the most consistently excellent defenders in European football this season and his numbers tell a compelling story.
Across all competitions this season, Koundé contributed three goals and four assists, registered 49 crosses, made 67 tackles, 42 interceptions, and 82 clearances across 40 appearances for Barcelona.
Originally a centre back who admitted finding the right back position difficult when he first made the switch, he has fully embraced the role and become one of the very best in Europe at it.
His defining moment of the 2024/25 season came when he scored the Copa del Rey final winner against Real Madrid, a performance that summed up his ability to be decisive in the biggest games.
At 27, Koundé is in the prime years of his career, Hansi Flick considers him one of the first names on the Barcelona teamsheet, and France boss Didier Deschamps makes him a guaranteed starter for Les Bleus.
He has won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de España, and the Champions League at the Camp Nou, making him one of the most decorated defenders in world football of his generation.
Koundé heads to the 2026 World Cup with France as one of their most important and trusted players, with a very strong case that only one right back in the world is better than him right now.
1. Achraf Hakimi — Paris Saint-Germain
There is no debate about who the best right back in the world is right now.
Achraf Hakimi has spent the last five seasons proving that nobody in his position can match what he brings to a football team, and the 2025/26 campaign has only reinforced that status.
The Moroccan won back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles with PSG, scoring the opening goal in the previous season’s final against his former club Inter Milan as the Parisians demolished them 5-0 to clinch the trophy for the first time in their history.
He finished sixth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or standings, the highest-ranked defender on the entire list and the highest-placed Moroccan player in the history of the award.
PSG’s heavy rotation policy across domestic fixtures means his Ligue 1 numbers of 2 goals and 2 assists in 15 appearances understate his importance significantly, because his best football consistently comes on the biggest European nights.
Hakimi is a defender who attacks like a winger, crosses like a forward, and defends with a ferocity you simply do not expect from someone who spends so much time in the final third.
He is one of the fastest players in world football regardless of position, and that pace combined with his technical quality is what makes him nearly impossible to contain when he gets going.
He won the African Player of the Year award in 2025 and is now captaining Morocco at the 2026 World Cup, a country that famously reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 2022 and will be hoping to go even further this time.
If you enjoyed this article, check out our guides to the best full backs in football, the best left backs in the world, and the best defenders in the world right now.
