As expected, Martin has been named as Norway’s captain after guiding them to their first major finals since Euro 2000, having previously reached the 1998 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Martin will get the chance to complete a dream season in North America, having lifted the Premier League title with us before competing in the Champions League final. He has won 67 caps since debuting as a 15-year-old in 2014, and was named skipper in March 2021.<\/p>\n
He featured in their first five qualifiers which all ended in wins, paving the way for their long-awaited qualification, before injury saw him miss the remainder of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Martin is joined in the squad by fellow Premier League players Erling Haaland, Oscar Bobb, Jorgen Strand Larsen, David Moller Wolfe, Kristoffer Ajer and Sander Berge.<\/p>\n
KAI HAVERTZ – GERMANY<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nKai was included in Julian Nagelsmann\u2019s 26-man squad, meaning he\u2019ll have the chance to feature in his second World Cup after playing in two of Die Mannschaft\u2019s matches in 2022, which saw them suffer a shock group stage exit.<\/p>\n
Our striker, who has been named in a fourth Germany tournament squad in a row after also being selected for Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, missed out on the whole of his nation\u2019s qualifying campaign due to the knee injury that saw him sit out most of the early part of 2025\/26. However he returned to the international fold in March\u2019s friendly matches against Switzerland and Ghana, scoring from the penalty spot against the latter – his 21st goal in 57 caps.<\/p>\n
The four-time champions will face Ivory Coast, Ecuador and newcomer Curacao in Group E at the World Cup, and warm up for the tournament with a game against Finland in Mainz and the co-hosts USA in Chicago.<\/p>\n
The headline from their squad announcement was the return of 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had retired after Euro 2024 but is set to be their first-choice shot-stopper.<\/p>\n
GABRIEL & GABRIEL MARTINELLI – BRAZIL<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nBig Gabi will get the chance to play in his first World Cup after Carlo Ancelotti named him in his selection. Having made his debut in September 2023 in his nation\u2019s first 2026 World Cup qualifier, he played in 14 of the 18 matches to reach the finals, scoring his first international goal against Venezuela. <\/p>\n
Martinelli meanwhile will head to his second World Cup, having made three appearances in Qatar four years ago when Brazil got to the round of 16. Nine of his 22 caps came in the qualifying round, while he has four goals for the Selecao since debuting in March 2022, the last of which came in a friendly win against Croatia in March.<\/p>\n
Brazil will hope to add to their record five successes when they take on Morocco, Haiti and Scotland in Group C, and will warm up with friendlies against Panama and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti also opted to select 34-year-old Neymar ahead of Chelsea striker Joao Pedro, despite Brazil\u2019s record goalscorer not playing international football for three years.<\/p>\n
LEANDRO TROSSARD – BELGIUM<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nLeo is also heading to his second World Cup, where he hopes to help Belgium enjoy a better tournament than their group stage exit last time around. He played three times in Qatar a couple of months before his switch to north London.<\/p>\n
The winger won his 50th cap for the Red Devils in a 7-0 destruction of Liechtenstein in their final World Cup qualifier in November. He featured in nine of their 10 matches, scoring once against Wales.<\/p>\n
Belgium will play Egypt, Iran and New Zealand at the finals, but will warm up with matches against Croatia and Tunisia before heading to North America.<\/p>\n
The big news from their squad announcement was the inclusion of record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku despite concerns over the 33-year-old’s match fitness. He\u2019ll hope to play in his fourth successive World Cup, alongside Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel.<\/p>\n
WILLIAM SALIBA – FRANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nWilliam is another who will get a second shot at World Cup glory this summer, having been a part of the French squad that reached the final last time around but were cruelly denied by Argentina on penalties. <\/p>\n
The centre-back played just 19 minutes in Qatar but has been a regular in their backline across their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and their qualification campaign, usually paired with Bayern Munich\u2019s Dayot Upamecano.<\/p>\n
He will hope to add to his 31 caps during the next few weeks, with Les Bleus facing the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland before the tournament, where they kick off with matches against Senegal and Iraq before he faces off against clubmate Odegaard\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n
Manager Didier Deschamps leads France into a seventh major finals across his 14-year tenure, and made some bold calls, omitting Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga and Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n
VIKTOR GYOKERES – SWEDEN<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHaving blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Kai was included in Julian Nagelsmann\u2019s 26-man squad, meaning he\u2019ll have the chance to feature in his second World Cup after playing in two of Die Mannschaft\u2019s matches in 2022, which saw them suffer a shock group stage exit.<\/p>\n
Our striker, who has been named in a fourth Germany tournament squad in a row after also being selected for Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, missed out on the whole of his nation\u2019s qualifying campaign due to the knee injury that saw him sit out most of the early part of 2025\/26. However he returned to the international fold in March\u2019s friendly matches against Switzerland and Ghana, scoring from the penalty spot against the latter – his 21st goal in 57 caps.<\/p>\n
The four-time champions will face Ivory Coast, Ecuador and newcomer Curacao in Group E at the World Cup, and warm up for the tournament with a game against Finland in Mainz and the co-hosts USA in Chicago.<\/p>\n
The headline from their squad announcement was the return of 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had retired after Euro 2024 but is set to be their first-choice shot-stopper.<\/p>\n
GABRIEL & GABRIEL MARTINELLI – BRAZIL<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nBig Gabi will get the chance to play in his first World Cup after Carlo Ancelotti named him in his selection. Having made his debut in September 2023 in his nation\u2019s first 2026 World Cup qualifier, he played in 14 of the 18 matches to reach the finals, scoring his first international goal against Venezuela. <\/p>\n
Martinelli meanwhile will head to his second World Cup, having made three appearances in Qatar four years ago when Brazil got to the round of 16. Nine of his 22 caps came in the qualifying round, while he has four goals for the Selecao since debuting in March 2022, the last of which came in a friendly win against Croatia in March.<\/p>\n
Brazil will hope to add to their record five successes when they take on Morocco, Haiti and Scotland in Group C, and will warm up with friendlies against Panama and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti also opted to select 34-year-old Neymar ahead of Chelsea striker Joao Pedro, despite Brazil\u2019s record goalscorer not playing international football for three years.<\/p>\n
LEANDRO TROSSARD – BELGIUM<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nLeo is also heading to his second World Cup, where he hopes to help Belgium enjoy a better tournament than their group stage exit last time around. He played three times in Qatar a couple of months before his switch to north London.<\/p>\n
The winger won his 50th cap for the Red Devils in a 7-0 destruction of Liechtenstein in their final World Cup qualifier in November. He featured in nine of their 10 matches, scoring once against Wales.<\/p>\n
Belgium will play Egypt, Iran and New Zealand at the finals, but will warm up with matches against Croatia and Tunisia before heading to North America.<\/p>\n
The big news from their squad announcement was the inclusion of record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku despite concerns over the 33-year-old’s match fitness. He\u2019ll hope to play in his fourth successive World Cup, alongside Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel.<\/p>\n
WILLIAM SALIBA – FRANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nWilliam is another who will get a second shot at World Cup glory this summer, having been a part of the French squad that reached the final last time around but were cruelly denied by Argentina on penalties. <\/p>\n
The centre-back played just 19 minutes in Qatar but has been a regular in their backline across their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and their qualification campaign, usually paired with Bayern Munich\u2019s Dayot Upamecano.<\/p>\n
He will hope to add to his 31 caps during the next few weeks, with Les Bleus facing the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland before the tournament, where they kick off with matches against Senegal and Iraq before he faces off against clubmate Odegaard\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n
Manager Didier Deschamps leads France into a seventh major finals across his 14-year tenure, and made some bold calls, omitting Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga and Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n
VIKTOR GYOKERES – SWEDEN<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHaving blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Big Gabi will get the chance to play in his first World Cup after Carlo Ancelotti named him in his selection. Having made his debut in September 2023 in his nation\u2019s first 2026 World Cup qualifier, he played in 14 of the 18 matches to reach the finals, scoring his first international goal against Venezuela. <\/p>\n
Martinelli meanwhile will head to his second World Cup, having made three appearances in Qatar four years ago when Brazil got to the round of 16. Nine of his 22 caps came in the qualifying round, while he has four goals for the Selecao since debuting in March 2022, the last of which came in a friendly win against Croatia in March.<\/p>\n
Brazil will hope to add to their record five successes when they take on Morocco, Haiti and Scotland in Group C, and will warm up with friendlies against Panama and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti also opted to select 34-year-old Neymar ahead of Chelsea striker Joao Pedro, despite Brazil\u2019s record goalscorer not playing international football for three years.<\/p>\n
LEANDRO TROSSARD – BELGIUM<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nLeo is also heading to his second World Cup, where he hopes to help Belgium enjoy a better tournament than their group stage exit last time around. He played three times in Qatar a couple of months before his switch to north London.<\/p>\n
The winger won his 50th cap for the Red Devils in a 7-0 destruction of Liechtenstein in their final World Cup qualifier in November. He featured in nine of their 10 matches, scoring once against Wales.<\/p>\n
Belgium will play Egypt, Iran and New Zealand at the finals, but will warm up with matches against Croatia and Tunisia before heading to North America.<\/p>\n
The big news from their squad announcement was the inclusion of record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku despite concerns over the 33-year-old’s match fitness. He\u2019ll hope to play in his fourth successive World Cup, alongside Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel.<\/p>\n
WILLIAM SALIBA – FRANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nWilliam is another who will get a second shot at World Cup glory this summer, having been a part of the French squad that reached the final last time around but were cruelly denied by Argentina on penalties. <\/p>\n
The centre-back played just 19 minutes in Qatar but has been a regular in their backline across their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and their qualification campaign, usually paired with Bayern Munich\u2019s Dayot Upamecano.<\/p>\n
He will hope to add to his 31 caps during the next few weeks, with Les Bleus facing the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland before the tournament, where they kick off with matches against Senegal and Iraq before he faces off against clubmate Odegaard\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n
Manager Didier Deschamps leads France into a seventh major finals across his 14-year tenure, and made some bold calls, omitting Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga and Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n
VIKTOR GYOKERES – SWEDEN<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHaving blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Leo is also heading to his second World Cup, where he hopes to help Belgium enjoy a better tournament than their group stage exit last time around. He played three times in Qatar a couple of months before his switch to north London.<\/p>\n
The winger won his 50th cap for the Red Devils in a 7-0 destruction of Liechtenstein in their final World Cup qualifier in November. He featured in nine of their 10 matches, scoring once against Wales.<\/p>\n
Belgium will play Egypt, Iran and New Zealand at the finals, but will warm up with matches against Croatia and Tunisia before heading to North America.<\/p>\n
The big news from their squad announcement was the inclusion of record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku despite concerns over the 33-year-old’s match fitness. He\u2019ll hope to play in his fourth successive World Cup, alongside Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne and Axel Witsel.<\/p>\n
WILLIAM SALIBA – FRANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nWilliam is another who will get a second shot at World Cup glory this summer, having been a part of the French squad that reached the final last time around but were cruelly denied by Argentina on penalties. <\/p>\n
The centre-back played just 19 minutes in Qatar but has been a regular in their backline across their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and their qualification campaign, usually paired with Bayern Munich\u2019s Dayot Upamecano.<\/p>\n
He will hope to add to his 31 caps during the next few weeks, with Les Bleus facing the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland before the tournament, where they kick off with matches against Senegal and Iraq before he faces off against clubmate Odegaard\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n
Manager Didier Deschamps leads France into a seventh major finals across his 14-year tenure, and made some bold calls, omitting Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga and Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n
VIKTOR GYOKERES – SWEDEN<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHaving blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
William is another who will get a second shot at World Cup glory this summer, having been a part of the French squad that reached the final last time around but were cruelly denied by Argentina on penalties. <\/p>\n
The centre-back played just 19 minutes in Qatar but has been a regular in their backline across their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, and their qualification campaign, usually paired with Bayern Munich\u2019s Dayot Upamecano.<\/p>\n
He will hope to add to his 31 caps during the next few weeks, with Les Bleus facing the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland before the tournament, where they kick off with matches against Senegal and Iraq before he faces off against clubmate Odegaard\u2019s Norway.<\/p>\n
Manager Didier Deschamps leads France into a seventh major finals across his 14-year tenure, and made some bold calls, omitting Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga and Tottenham’s Randal Kolo Muani.<\/p>\n
VIKTOR GYOKERES – SWEDEN<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nHaving blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Having blasted in four goals in two games to help Sweden qualify via the play-offs, Viktor will get the chance to play in his first World Cup.<\/p>\n
Despite finishing bottom of their qualifying group with two points, Sweden\u2019s Nations League performance gave them a second chance via the play-offs. After Viktor netted a hat-trick against Ukraine, he then bagged an 88th-minute winner to beat Poland and secure a berth at the finals. That was his 19th goal in 32 international appearances.<\/p>\n
Sweden will now play Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan in a tough-looking group, and have scheduled friendlies against Norway and Greece to prepare for their first World Cup since 2018.<\/p>\n
Managed by Graham Potter, he has included Alexander Isak in his squad, who will battle with Viktor for the forward position despite an injury-hit season with Liverpool.<\/p>\n
EZE, MADUEKE, RICE, SAKA – ENGLAND<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\nThomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Thomas Tuchel has named four Gunners in his squad, with Bukayo Saka heading to his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions, including his second World Cup. He scored three times in 2022 en route to the quarter-finals, and now has 48 caps and 14 goals to his name.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice was a key cog in the qualifying campaign, starting seven of the eight matches, finding the net in a 2-0 victory over Andorra. He played alongside Bukayo in Qatar four years ago, as well as at Euro 2020 and 2024, which has boosted his cap tally to 72 caps.<\/p>\n
Two Gunners will head to their first World Cup as England players. Only Harry Kane scored more times than Eberechi Eze during the qualifying campaign, and as expected, he is included. All three of his international goals helped the Three Lions reach North America, netting in both wins over Latvia and a victory over Serbia.<\/p>\n
It was also a memorable campaign for Noni Madueke, who netted his first England goal in September against Serbia. He now has 10 caps to his name and gets the chance to potentially feature at his first major finals.<\/p>\n
England will take on New Zealand and Costa Rica in two warm-up fixtures before Ghana, Croatia and Panama in their group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the 2025\/26 campaign coming to a close, attention is beginning to turn to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico as the world\u2019s best players descend … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}