{"id":246120,"date":"2026-05-31T21:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/breaking-tony-popovics-final-call-cristian-volpato-revealed-as-final-socceroos-world-cup-squad-announced\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T21:58:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:58:00","slug":"breaking-tony-popovics-final-call-cristian-volpato-revealed-as-final-socceroos-world-cup-squad-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/breaking-tony-popovics-final-call-cristian-volpato-revealed-as-final-socceroos-world-cup-squad-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Tony Popovic\u2019s final call Cristian Volpato revealed as final Socceroos World Cup squad announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

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><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/amp-img><\/amp-iframe><\/div>\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

<\/amp-img>
Sassuolo’s Cristian Volpato controls the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Sassuolo at the San Siro stadium.<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\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

<\/amp-img>
Tony Popovic, Head Coach of Australia, looks on during the international friendly match between Mexico and Australia at Rose Bowl Stadium.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\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 Borrello, 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

<\/amp-img>
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 05: Martin Boyle has missed out on the World Cup squAD.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FULL SQUAD<\/b><\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

WORLD CUP SCHEDULE<\/b><\/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<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/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 making the final cut just days after pledging his allegiance to Australia. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":246121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[2228,1800,1641,83,1736,4072,8884,1808,3659,2064,9030,20515,1567,1429,21519,1425,25198,30778,2458,45594,5035,48235,1430,19964,320,16809,1533,1809,1728,61673,43668,2874,3868,2457,73469,16930,12783,24815,1792,1847,16708],"class_list":{"0":"post-246120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-team","14":"tag-aziz-behich","15":"tag-california","16":"tag-cameron-devlin","17":"tag-canada","18":"tag-central-america","19":"tag-cristian-volpato","20":"tag-eastern-asia","21":"tag-europe","22":"tag-final-cut","23":"tag-getty-images-inc","24":"tag-goal-scorer","25":"tag-group-matches","26":"tag-italy","27":"tag-jacob-italiano","28":"tag-japan","29":"tag-jason-geria","30":"tag-mat-ryan","31":"tag-mathew-ryan","32":"tag-mexico","33":"tag-mohamed-toure","34":"tag-north-america","35":"tag-northern-america","36":"tag-oceania","37":"tag-pasadena","38":"tag-paul-izzo","39":"tag-qatar","40":"tag-shock-call","41":"tag-southern-europe","42":"tag-switching-allegiance","43":"tag-tim-cahill","44":"tag-tony-popovic","45":"tag-tournament-co-hosts","46":"tag-united-states-of-america","47":"tag-western-asia","48":"tag-world-cup-squad"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}