Spanish midfielder Dani Olmo began the 2026 World Cup on the bench for the opening match against Cape Verde, but he has since become a fixture in coach Luis de la Fuente’s lineup, expected to orchestrate the attack against France this Tuesday in the semifinal. Given the team's possession-based style, Olmo's involvement is vital due to his ability to connect the midfield and attacking lines. De la Fuente remarked early in the tournament: "He is a master of playing between the lines." The 28-year-old Barcelona player is currently in the best form of his career.

Throughout his career, few have questioned his talent and playmaking ability, but he has rarely enjoyed consistency due to injuries, which likely prevented him from achieving a greater international presence. "My life and my career have been like this; I always have to prove who I am, but that's not a problem, it's a challenge I set for myself, to prove it again, as I always have," Olmo said before the match against Belgium, adding that, unlike his teammates, he had to emigrate from Spain as a teenager to forge his footballing future.

Olmo was developed at La Masia, Barcelona's youth academy, but in 2014, at the age of sixteen, he decided to leave the club due to the difficulty of breaking into a first team that then featured players like Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández. Instead of moving to another major club on the continent, he and his family chose Dinamo Zagreb, a club with a strong reputation for developing young talent—"Luka Modrić graduated there, for example"—but far from the spotlight of the major leagues.

"In Croatia, it was a different culture and I learned a lot physically. In Spain, the focus was more on the ball, especially in Barcelona," Olmo previously said. "I was 16 years old and I was training with stars on the national team who had played in the World Cup. It was a big step for me. It made me evolve physically and mentally because the play was faster."

His reputation grew in Zagreb before he moved to Leipzig, where he honed his talent in the Bundesliga until returning to Barcelona exactly two years ago. Olmo is an essential element in German coach Hansi Flick’s team thanks to his ability to play between the lines and create space for his teammates, as well as his goal-scoring contribution: 20 goals and 17 assists in 88 matches for Barcelona.

De la Fuente did not need to see Olmo at Barcelona to call him up to the national team. Like several players at the 2026 World Cup, such as Unai Simón, Mikel Merino, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Fabián Ruiz, he was crowned European Under-19 champion with the coach in 2019. Two years later, he called him up again for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where Spain won the silver medal, even though he had already made his debut with the senior team and scored just three minutes after coming onto the pitch during a Euro qualifier against Malta in 2019.

He participated in the European Championship in the summer of 2021 and the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, but his most notable achievements with 'La Roja' came under De la Fuente, winning the 2023 UEFA Nations League, finishing as runner-up in 2025, and winning Euro 2024; he is now reaching the semifinal of the World Cup.

De la Fuente values Olmo for his dynamism in attacking play, his ability to make a difference, and his effort in pressing. The No. 10 of the Red squad said before the quarterfinal against Belgium: "We are a team that all attacks and all defends. The coach says that the first to defend is the striker, and the rest follow him."