{"id":707059,"date":"2026-05-31T22:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707059\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T22:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:19:10","slug":"breaking-tony-popovics-final-call-cristian-volpato-revealed-as-final-socceroos-world-cup-squad-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707059\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Tony Popovic\u2019s final call Cristian Volpato revealed as final Socceroos World Cup squad announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Socceroos boss Tony Popovic has named his final 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup with Cristian Volpato making the final cut just days after pledging his allegiance to Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old winger, who previously wanted to play for Italy, is one of two uncapped players in the squad alongside Tete Yengi, who has been rewarded for a breakout season in Japan.<\/p>\n

\ufeffGet all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Volpato rejected Graham Arnold\u2019s advances four years ago when he was making waves with AS Roma as a teenager under legendary manager Jose Mourinho, but the Sydney born and raised prospect, who still plays in the Serie A but is now with Sassuolo, has had a change of heart.<\/p>\n

Yengi, meanwhile, received his first ever call-up to a national squad just a week ago after the 25-year-old netted six goals in 22 appearances across the JLeague 1 and the AFC Champions League Elite for Machida Zelvia.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos will have a new look about them in the United States and Canada as 17 squad members head to the World Cup for the first time.<\/p>\n

Sassuolo’s Cristian Volpato controls the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Sassuolo at the San Siro stadium.Source: AP<\/p>\n

On the other end of the scale, captain Mat Ryan and goal scorer in Qatar four years ago Mathew Leckie have been named for their fourth World Cup – matching Tim Cahill and Mark Milligan\u2019s national record.<\/p>\n

Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek and Jackson Irvine have been selected for a third World Cup, while Cameron Devlin, Ajdin Hrustic, Awer Mabil and Harry Souttar also return from the squad that reached the Round of 16 in Qatar.<\/p>\n

The squad announcement comes after the Socceroos were beaten 1-0 in a friendly by tournament co-hosts Mexico<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to finally announce the 26 players who will represent the Socceroos at the FIFA World Cup 2026,\u201d Popovic said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cA range of factors has gone into selecting this final World Cup squad. Some difficult decisions had to be made \u2013 that\u2019s the nature of major tournaments. But it\u2019s also a credit to all the players involved over the past few weeks who worked extremely hard during an extended and challenging pre-camp. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to acknowledge the players who contributed to our direct World Cup qualification but are not part of this squad. Their contribution should not be forgotten. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus now shifts to finalising our preparations for the upcoming friendly against Switzerland and for our World Cup group matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Popovic, Head Coach of Australia, looks on during the international friendly match between Mexico and Australia at Rose Bowl Stadium.Source: AFP<\/p>\n

Thirty players had been involved in Australia\u2019s training camp in Florida and then California in the lead up to the squad announcement.<\/p>\n

Martin Boyle, Brandon Borello, Joe Gauci and Kye Rowles are the four players to miss out.<\/p>\n

It is a particularly bitter blow for Boyle, who missed the last World Cup with injury and does not have time on his side at 33 years of age to make a maiden appearance in the global showpiece event.<\/p>\n

Boyle has scored ten goals in 41 appearances for the Socceroos, while he and Rowles – who was in the World Cup squad four years ago – both featured in the match day squad against Mexico but were unused substitutes. <\/p>\n

They are not the only hard luck stories as Middlesborough midfielder Riley McGree was ruled out with a hamstring injury last month, while Mitch Duke, who scored the winner against Tunisia in Qatar, was part of a group of eight players cut from the training squad roughly a week ago.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos will play their final pre-World Cup friendly against Switzerland in San Diego on Sunday morning AEST.<\/p>\n

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 05: Martin Boyle has missed out on the World Cup squAD.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

FULL SQUAD<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (c), Paul Izzo, Patrick Beach<\/p>\n

Defenders: Aziz Behich, Jordan Bos, Cameron Burgess, Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, Jason Geria, Lucas Herrington,Jacob Italiano, Harry Souttar, Kai Trewin,<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Cameron Devlin, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine, Connor Metcalfe, Aiden O\u2019Neill, Paul Okon-Engstler<\/p>\n

Forwards: Nestory Irankunda, Mathew Leckie, Awer Mabil, Mohamed Toure, Nishan Velupillary, Cristian Volpato, Tete Yengi<\/p>\n

WORLD CUP SCHEDULE<\/p>\n

June 13: Australia v T\u00fcrkiye, BC Place, Vancouver <\/p>\n

June 19: USA v Australia, Seattle Stadium, Seattle <\/p>\n

June 25: Paraguay v Australia, San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, Santa Clara<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socceroos boss Tony Popovic has named his final 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup with Cristian Volpato…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2620,2095,1724,64,63,689,56263,253445,485,160825,2065,2791,217534,9239,2057,154349,2105,12016,172858,2328,253457,941,160809,6260,253458,2184,85329,2041,2067,677,43987,85323,16260,241558,3595,85,13386,217532,6248,338689,2614,12000,76306],"class_list":["post-707059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-america","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-team","tag-aziz-behich","tag-california","tag-cameron-devlin","tag-canada","tag-central-america","tag-cristian-volpato","tag-eastern-asia","tag-europe","tag-final-cut","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-goal-scorer","tag-group-matches","tag-italy","tag-jacob-italiano","tag-japan","tag-jason-geria","tag-mat-ryan","tag-mathew-ryan","tag-mexico","tag-mohamed-toure","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-pasadena","tag-paul-izzo","tag-qatar","tag-shock-call","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-switching-allegiance","tag-tim-cahill","tag-tony-popovic","tag-tournament-co-hosts","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia","tag-world-cup-squad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}