Spain’s World Cup squad — chasing glory without a single Real Madrid player!

Spain are ready for the World Cup, ready to attack a second world title as European champions — their first since 2010. Back then, Real Madrid had five representatives in Vicente del Bosque’s title-winning squad (Casillas, Ramos, Alonso, Arbeloa, Albiol), but now, for the first time in World Cup history, Real Madrid will not have a single player in the Spanish national team!

Luis de la Fuente has announced his final squad, and among the 26 selected there is no place for Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia, Gonzalo Garcia, or even veteran Dani Carvajal.

It previously happened back in 1920 that no Real Madrid player was included in Spain’s squad for the Olympic Games, and it happened again at Euro 2021, when Luis Enrique left Los Blancos without representation as Sergio Ramos, Isco, Marco Asensio, Nacho, and Lucas Vazquez were all omitted.

Now to the players who, alongside France, will head to the United States as the main favorites to conquer the world. Only Portugal’s midfield — Joao Neves, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva — can rival Spain’s in terms of quality, considering De la Fuente’s side is built around Pedri, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Zubimendi, Dani Olmo, Alex Baena, and others. Although he has not played for Arsenal for months while recovering from injury, Mikel Merino will still travel to North America.

Barcelona lead the squad with eight representatives, which is expected from a team that has dominated Spanish football over the past two seasons while relying heavily on homegrown players developed by the club itself. However, social media has already begun questioning Gavi’s inclusion, given that he was only Barcelona’s 22nd-most-used player this season. Although he played fairly regularly toward the end of the campaign after recovering from a serious injury, he finished the 2025/26 season with just 13 appearances, 700 minutes played, and only one assist.

This will be the debut World Cup for Lamine Yamal, the national team’s biggest star and one of the best footballers on the planet. Osasuna’s red-haired livewire Víctor Munoz earned his call-up, Borja Iglesias secured his ticket to America after scoring 14 league goals and will serve as one of Spain’s impact options off the bench, while Spain’s undisputed main striker is Mikel Oyarzabal — a legend of Real Sociedad, a lucky charm, and a man whose goals decide big matches. His 86th-minute strike at Berlin’s Olympiastadion against England delivered Spain the European title.

Like Merino, Nico Williams also managed to recover despite ending the season with a hamstring injury. And De la Fuente certainly did not forget how he and his “splash brother” Yamal terrorized opposing defenses in Germany two years ago.

Unai Simon has been Spain’s first-choice goalkeeper for years, and that will probably remain the case even though Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya has been one of Europe’s best shot-stoppers for the past two or three seasons.

SPAIN SQUAD FOR THE 2026 WORLD CUP

Goalkeepers: Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garcia (Barcelona)

Defenders: Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Eric Garcia (Barcelona), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Gavi (Barcelona), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Pedri (Barcelona), Fabian Ruiz (PSG), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid)

Forwards: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Jeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Víctor Munoz (Osasuna), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo)