Australia World Cup 2026 squad: Tony Popovic's most recent selection for preparatory March friendlies

The Australia World Cup 2026 squad is shaping up and the chances for players to impress manager Tony Popovic have now run out.

World Cup 2026 will be the Socceroos' sixth consecutive World Cup and they'll be hoping to build on their run to the round of 16 in Qatar in 2022. Without the strength in depth of some other squads at the tournament, it won't be an easy task.

Matches against Cameroon and Curacao in March will be followed by a final friendly against co-hosts Mexico in May. Australia might not be favourites to win their group but they certainly have a chance to progress.

Australia qualified well, losing just once across both rounds in the AFC but finishing behind Japan, the first team to qualify for World Cup 2026.

They were less impressive in the most recent Asia Cup, in which they were knocked out in the quarter-finals for the second tournament in a row. The last World Cup saw the Socceroos achieve their joint-best finish before they lost to eventual winners Argentina.

Australia will hope to take advantage of a relatively competitive group in the summer. An experienced squad should be a tricky foe for the United States, Paraguay and Turkey.

Popovic is able to draw upon a wealth of experience from the A-League and leagues in Europe. Watford's Nestroy Irankunda is one of his younger players and most highly regarded, and he'll be eager to be the star of the show in the summer.

Squad

Australia World Cup 2026 squad: The March selection

• GK: Mathew Ryan (Levante)
• GK: Paul Izzo (Randers)
• GK: Patrick Beach (Melbourne City)
• DF: Milos Degenek (APOEL)
• DF: Jacob Italiano (Grazer AK)
• DF: Jordan Bos (Feyenoord)
• DF: Kai Trewin (New York City)
• DF: Aziz Behich (Melbourne City)
• DF: Jason Geria (Albirex Niigata)
• DF: Cameron Burgess (Swansea City)
• DF: Alessandro Circati (Parma)
• DF: Lucas Herrington (Colorado Rapids)
• DF: Kye Rowles (D.C. United)
• MF: Connor Metcalfe (FC St. Pauli)
• MF: Ajdin Hrustic (Heracles Almelo)
• MF: Aiden O'Neill (New York City)
• MF: Riley McGree (Middlesbrough)
• MF: Patrick Yazbek (Nashville SC)
• MF: Paul Okon-Engstler (Sydney FC)
• MF: Alex Robertson (Cardiff City)
• FW: Martin Boyle (Hibernian)
• FW: Nestory Irankunda (Watford)
• FW: Nishan Velupillay (Melbourne Victory)
• FW: Awer Mabil (Castellon)
• FW: Deni Juric (Wisla Plock)
• FW: Ante Suto (Hibernian)

Fixtures

• May 30, 2026: Mexico vs Australia, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States
• June 03, 2026: Netherlands vs Australia, De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• June 14, 2026: Australia vs Turkiye, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada
• June 19, 2026: United States vs Australia, Lumen Field, Seattle, United States
• June 26, 2026: Paraguay vs Australia, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, United States

Recent Results

• March 31, 2026: Australia 5-1 Curacao, AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia
• March 27, 2026: Australia 1-0 Cameroon, Accor Stadium, Sydney, Australia
• November 18, 2025: Colombia 3-0 Australia, Citi Field, New York City, United States
• November 14, 2025: Venezuela 1-0 Australia, Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, United States
• October 14, 2025: United States 2-1 Australia, Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, United States
• October 10, 2025: Canada 0-1 Australia, Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Canada
• September 09, 2025: New Zealand 1-3 Australia, Go Media Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
• September 05, 2025: Australia 1-0 New Zealand, GIO Stadium, Canberra, Australia
• June 10, 2025: Saudi Arabia 1-2 Australia, King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• June 05, 2025: Australia 1-0 Japan, HBF Park, Perth, Australia
• March 25, 2025: China 0-2 Australia, Youth Football Stadium, Qingdao, China
• March 20, 2025: 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.

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