Thomas Tuchel has named his 26-man England squad for the 2026 World Cup, with Harry Kane captaining a group that features Henderson’s record-equalling fourth World Cup appearance and nine players making their first senior tournament bow – while Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Harry Maguire are among the most high-profile names to miss out.
Jude Bellingham and Noni Madueke are included, while Foden and Palmer have been left at home, and Declan Rice, Bellingham and Bukayo Saka will all be at their second World Cup, while nine players will be making their senior tournament debut: James Trafford, Tino Livramento, Nico O’Reilly, Djed Spence, Dan Burn, Jarell Quansah, Elliot Anderson, Madueke and Morgan Rogers.
Tuchel sat down to face the media after the announcement on Friday and was very clear when setting out his selection philosophy, making clear from the outset that this was a squad built to win, not to collect talent.
“Of course you saw our squad selection for the World Cup, which is an exciting day for me and for everyone selected. From day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players. Teams win championships, it is as simple as that. What we are trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team.
“We chose a very balanced squad. We choose nine defenders for four positions, we chose seven midfielders for three positions and we chose seven strikers for three positions.
“I can assure every fan in the country that we have 26 100% committed players in camp with us, who know their role, who are ready to buy into their role, on and off the pitch, who are ready and committed to the idea of team spirit and being unselfish.
“We have a huge chunk of youthfulness in the squad. We have six players who have won titles with the under-21s.
“We have Kobbie, who is still young and has won his titles, we have Nico O’Reilly on top who is young and already won his medals. We have specialists with us – specialists for all kinds of different scenarios, when we are leading, when we are chasing a game.
“We’ve always said we want to be a strong set-piece team, so we have specialists for that, and we want to be a strong penalty team, we have specialists for that.”
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Maguire statement ‘a surprise’
One of the biggest controversies of the announcement was the exclusion of Harry Maguire, who took to social media on Thursday evening to express his frustration at being left out before the squad was officially confirmed.
Tuchel said he was “a bit surprised” by the public statement, explaining that he had already had a private conversation with Maguire to deliver the news personally. He added that he respected Maguire’s personality and quality but was taken aback by the decision to go public.
“It is important for me to say that I am very grateful to all the players who have helped us qualify, to the players who have had one or six camps with us.
“Very grateful. I tried to show my respect and appreciation in telling them in person or phone calls in the last three days about my decision. I called every player that was at least once with us, personally, to tell them my decision, even if it was a painful decision or it was a disappointing message.
“We believe it has to be delivered from me. I will not go into details of course, but I tried to explain and express my appreciation and respect for the player.”
The leadership group and England’s culture
Tuchel also paid tribute to the culture built by his senior players since he took charge in January 2025, pointing to the group that has driven standards from within.
“We have a decent leadership group in camp. The leadership group took care and ownership in a very special way, from September onwards. They created a culture, they set the tone, they set the standards and we were very happy with that. That is why the maturity of this team and selection comes from the players who were with us in September, October and November.”
England begin their campaign against Croatia on June 17, before facing Ghana on June 23 and Panama on June 27 in Group D.
England World Cup squad in full
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson, James Trafford.
Defenders: Reece James, Tino Livramento, Djed Spence, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn, Jarell Quansah, Nico O’Reilly.
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Elliot Anderson, Jordan Henderson, Kobbie Mainoo, Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka.
Forwards: Noni Madueke, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, Marcus Rashford, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins, Harry Kane.
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