(Photo credit score: REUTERS/Phil Noble)
Sweden coach Graham Potter introduced that Liverpool ahead Alexander Isak and Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres have made the staff’s World Cup roster, whereas Tottenham ahead Dejan Kulusevski was left off the 26-player squad.
Isak has endured an injury-plagued season at Liverpool, having beginning solely eight league matches following his document switch from Newcastle final summer time. He and Gyokeres are two of 11 British-based gamers on the roster.
‘When you’ve got had a long-term harm, it’s by no means a straight highway again. There is usually one step ahead and one step again,’ Potter informed reporters at a press convention in Stockholm. ‘Our problem is to get Alex the perfect second of the season and for him to hit prime kind, as a result of if he does, he’s a world-class participant.’
Kulusevski, additionally 26, has been sidelined since present process knee surgical procedure in May 2025.
‘A really, very troublesome resolution when it comes to the place he has been and what he is executed during the last yr, the place he is at when it comes to his rehab with 4 and a half weeks to go to that first sport,’ Potter mentioned, per the BBC.
FC Dallas’ Herman Johansson, Celta de Vigo’s Williot Swedberg and Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji additionally did not make the roster. Johansson is a reserve who will likely be obtainable throughout pre-tournament friendlies.
Sweden certified for the 2026 World Cup with wins over Ukraine and Poland within the playoffs after ending atop their Nations League group. That got here after a poor qualifying marketing campaign that noticed them earn solely two factors and not using a victory.
Gyokeres emerged as a key issue, scoring the late profitable aim towards Poland in March to assist Sweden attain their first World Cup since 2018.
Other notable names on the roster embody midfielders Yasin Ayari (Brighton) and Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham), Aston Villa defender Victor Lindelof, Celtic ahead Benjamin Nygren and Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga.
Sweden will play friendlies in Norway on June 1 and residential towards Greece on June 4 earlier than touring to their World Cup base camp in Frisco, Texas. They open Group F play towards Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico on June 14 earlier than touring to the United States for video games towards the Netherlands in Houston on June 20 and Japan in Arlington, Texas, on June 25.
SWEDEN WORLD CUP ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS: Viktor Johansson (Stoke City), Kristoffer Nordfeldt (AIK), Jacob Widell Zetterstrom (Derby County)
DEFENDERS: Hjalmar Ekdal (Burnley), Gabriel Gudmundsson (Leeds United), Isak Hien (Atalanta), Emil Holm (Juventus), Gustaf Lagerbielke (Braga), Victor Lindelof (Aston Villa), Eric Smith (St. Pauli), Carl Starfelt (Celta Vigo), Elliot Stroud (Mjallby), Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund)
MIDFIELDERS: Taha Ali (Malmo), Yasin Ayari (Brighton), Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham), Jesper Karlstrom (Udinese), Ken Sema (Pafos), Mattias Svanberg (Wolfsburg), Besfort Zeneli (Union St-Gilloise)
FORWARDS: Alexander Bernhardsson (Holstein Kiel), Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United), Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal), Alexander Isak (Liverpool), Gustaf Nilsson (Club Brugge), Benjamin Nygren (Celtic)
–Field Level Media