As the 2026 FIFA World Cup grows nearer each and every week, national teams are preparing to name the players who will represent their country at the world’s premier football competition.
Forty-eight teams from around the globe will converge on North America for this summer’s tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The World Cup will begin on June 11 in Mexico City, and after five weeks of competition, a world champion will be crowned at MetLife Stadium outside New York City.
The Sporting News explains how many players will be eligible to represent each country at the tournament, and how those players will be decided.
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How many players are in World Cup rosters?
According to the official FIFA regulations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, participant rosters must be at least 23 players and up to 26 players in size.
This is consistent with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA expanded the squad lists at the previous tournament to accommodate the growing fixture congestion in world football. The COVID-19 pandemic that delayed competitions over the previous two years and increased minute loads was also a factor.
FIFA received overwhelmingly supportive feedback for the change and decided to keep it for the 2026 tournament.
Will World Cup 2026 rosters be bigger?
Late in 2025 and early in 2026, there were some reports that rosters for the 2026 World Cup could be expanded further from the 26-player limit to 29 or even 30 players.
However, FIFA decided to stick with the stipulated squad sizes from Qatar.
Rules and restrictions for World Cup rosters
There are a number of rules and regulations around how many players can be on each roster, including various position restrictions and other stipulations.
The following restrictions apply to each roster:
Size: A minimum of 23 players and a maximum of 26 players, only those who were included in the provisional roster (35-55 players).Injury replacements: Any player suffering “serious injury or illness” before the tournament begins may be replaced by another player from the provisional roster, all the way up to 24 hours prior to their first World Cup match.Makeup: At least three of the 26 players must be goalkeepers.Training: Teams are allowed to have up to nine players on the roster for training purposes until the start of the tournament, but those nine players may not participate in World Cup competition.