England head coach Thomas Tuchel named his 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday in a live reveal from Wembley Stadium. Harry Kane captains the side at his third World Cup, equaling Billy Wright's 1950-1958 record. Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire, Levi Colwill, Luke Shaw, and Lewis Hall did not make the cut. Tuchel called it "a tough process," and said he has "full belief in this group of players."
The 26
Goalkeepers (3): Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, James Trafford.
Defenders (9): Dan Burn, Marc Guéhi, Reece James, Ezri Konsa, Tino Livramento, Nico O'Reilly, Jarell Quansah, Djed Spence, John Stones.
Midfielders (7): Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze, Jordan Henderson, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers.
Forwards (7): Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane (captain), Noni Madueke, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.
The big cut
The headline name out is Cole Palmer — last summer's Euros breakout, the player who scored the equalizer in the final, and the most-discussed selection question of Tuchel's tenure. The cut sends a clear positional signal: Tuchel is choosing structure over flair in the No. 10 spot, with Bellingham and Eze ahead of Palmer in that depth chart and Rogers taking the third creative slot. Harry Maguire's omission ends a six-year run of England center-back conversations going through him; Guéhi, Konsa, Quansah, and Stones are the four-man rotation now. The defensive group is also younger by a full year than the Euro 2024 group.
The records
Kane joins Wright as the only English captain to lead the country at three World Cups. Jordan Henderson ties Sir Bobby Charlton's England record by making a fourth World Cup roster, an outcome that reads as Tuchel valuing dressing-room continuity over a slightly younger midfield body. Pickford, Stones, and Rashford join Kane in the three-tournament club. Nine players — Trafford, Burn, James, Livramento, O'Reilly, Quansah, Spence, Anderson, Rogers, Madueke — get their first senior major tournament. The full provisional list of squads from across the federations was due to FIFA by June 2; England joining Brazil and France among the early reveals.
The read
This is a calmer, less famous squad than the 2024 Euros version. The headline absences (Palmer, Maguire, Shaw, Hall) all came from positions where Tuchel had genuine like-for-like alternatives. The headline inclusions (Mainoo, Rogers, Anderson, O'Reilly) are players whose ceiling Tuchel rates higher than their current Premier League ceiling. England open the group stage in mid-June; the front-foot 3-4-3 Tuchel ran through the March qualifiers is the system he's clearly built around.
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