Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk names 3 favorites who can win 2022 FIFA World Cup

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has named England, Brazil and France as the favorites to lift the 2022 FIFA World Cup trophy in Qatar.

The former Southampton center-back is expected to captain the Netherlands as they look to win their first World Cup. In an interview, he was asked to name the team that he believes is best positioned to win the World Cup.

Instead of one, Van Dijk named three. He was humble enough to leave the Netherlands off his list despite the quality and depth of their squad. The Liverpool defender said via GQ:

"I would say Brazil, France, and — do I say England? England has a fantastic squad. Brazil has the experience of the players as well as the talent. And there’s the world-class quality of France too."

The three teams have historically been the favorites to lift the trophy at each World Cup they have participated in. Brazil have won the competition a record five times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), while France have lifted the trophy twice (1998, 2018).

England, meanwhile, won the World Cup only once in 1966 on home soil. They have been drawn against Wales, the USA and Iran in Group B of this year's edition.

Les Bleus are in Group D with Australia, Denmark and Tunisia, while Brazil arguably have the toughest group out of the three teams. They play Serbia, Cameroon and Switzerland in Group G.

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Virgil van Dijk rubbished World Cup as a reason why Liverpool are not performing well

Van Dijk will be eager to take part in a major international competition for the first time in his career. The Netherlands did not qualify for the 2018 edition in Russia or the 2016 UEFA European Championship.

A brutal injury in a 2-2 draw against Everton in October 2020 put him out of contention for the UEFA Euros in the summer of 2021. This raised accusations that he wasn't giving his all for Liverpool this season due to fears of being injured before the World Cup.

Van Dijk recently disregarded such claims and said in September (h/t Football365):

"I can assure you that is definitely not the case. We are not in the situation because of that [protecting themselves for World Cup].

"I understand, because of the start we had, everyone is looking for ‘why?’ Because the difference (to last season) is too big, but I can assure you that is definitely not one of the reasons."

Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League table with 10 points from eight games. They will next play Rangers in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday (12 October).