Pedro Porro beats six World Cup rivals to be named Best Defender of the Tournament in Readers' Awards

Pedro Porro - a World Cup winner with Spain - has been named as the best defender of the tournament in the Sports Mole Readers' Awards.

The summer of 2026 belongs to La Roja, who claimed their second ever World Cup after beating Argentina 1-0 in Sunday's final.

Spain only conceded one goal across the entire tournament en route to their triumph in the final, and it comes as no surprise to see three of their defenders ranked in the top seven by our readers.

Aymeric Laporte is the lowest ranked of the Spanish contingent on this list, with 8% of the vote enough to secure him joint fifth alongside Achraf Hakimi, who exited the competition at the quarter-final stage after Morocco lost 2-0 to France.

Argentina's Lisandro Martinez is the only non-Spanish player to make the top three, but his 21% share of the vote falls below both Pau Cubarsi and Pedro Porro.

The results could hardly have been closer between the top two, with just a percentage point separating them, though our readers have ultimately named Porro as the defender of the World Cup with 28% of the vote.