The Australia World Cup 2026 squad is starting to take shape.
The Socceroos will be heading to North America for their sixth consecutive World Cup and will be hoping to build on their round of 16 finish in Qatar in 2022.
Australia were impressive in qualifying, finishing behind Japan in the third round of World Cup qualifying, but losing just once across both rounds.
In tournament football, Australia were underwhelming in their last Asia Cup, reaching just the quarter-finals for the second tournament in a row: however at the last World Cup they achieved their joint best finish and reached the round of 16, losing to eventual champions Argentina.
Watford's Nestroy Irankunda has made headlines already this season, after scoring two free-kicks in two games against Swansea and Southampton and is highly regarded within Australian media. He was once again in the squad in November.
Australia will be hoping to shock a few people next summer and see if they can upset the odds with plenty of experience.
Squad
Australia World Cup 2026 squad: The latest selection
- GK: Mathew Ryan (Levante)
- GK: Paul Izzo (Randers)
- GK: Patrick Beach (Melbourne City)
- DF: Milos Degenek (TSC)
- DF: Lewis Miller (Blackburn Rovers)
- DF: Callum Elder (Derby County)
- DF: Kai Trewin (Melbourne City)
- DF: Jason Geria (Albirex Niigata)
- DF: Cameron Burgess (Swansea City)
- DF: James Overy (Manchester United)
- DF: Jack Iredale (Hibernian)
- DF: Kye Rowles (D.C. United)
- MF: Connor Metcalfe (FC St. Pauli)
- MF: Aiden O'Neill (New York City)
- MF: Riley McGree (Middlesbrough)
- MF: Max Balard (NAC Breda)
- MF: Cameron Devlin (Heart of Midlothian)
- MF: Paul Okon-Engstler (Sydney FC)
- MF: Jackson Irvine (FC St. Pauli)
- FW: Martin Boyle (Hibernian)
- FW: Nestory Irankunda (Watford)
- FW: Mohamed Toure (Randers)
- FW: Al Hassan Toure (Sydney FC)
- FW: Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United)
- FW: Nicholas D'Agostino (Viking)
Fixtures and results
November 18: Colombia 3-0 Australia, Citi Field, New York City, United States
November 14: Venezuela 1-0 Australia, Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, United States
October 15: United States 2-1 Australia, Dick's Sporting Goods Park, United States of America
October 11: Canada 0-1 Australia, Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Canada
September 9: New Zealand 1-3 Australia, Go Media Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
September 4: Australia 3-1 New Zealand, GIO Stadium Canberra, Canberra, Australia
June 10: Saudi Arabia 1-2 Australia, King Abdullah Sport City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
June 5: Australia 1-0 Japan, Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia
March 25: China 0-2 Australia, Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Hangzhou, China
March 20: Australia 5-1 Indonesia, Allianz Stadium, Sydney, Australia
Manager
Who is Australia's manager?
Crystal Palace fans will be very familiar with Tony Popovic, who has been Australia's manager since September 2024.
He played over 120 times for the Eagles in, including 21 times in the Premier League in the 2005/06 season. He was assistant manager under Dougie Freedman and has been in management since 2012 when he was named the inaugural manager of Western Sydney Wanderers.
He has taken charge of 12 games as Socceroos manager, losing just once with a 66.67% win rate.
Star player
Who is Australia's star player?
Whilst he has only played nine times for Australia, should they be successful next summer in North America, Nestroy Irankunda will be large part of that.
The 19-year-old is considered one of the brightest talents the nation has ever produced. He has a excpetional talent for set-pieces, scoring two wonderful goals for Watford in the Championship in back-to-back games this season.
He was previously in the books at Bayern Munich but didn't feature for the first team despite being named on the bench several times by Vincent Kompany.
Best XI
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