Socceroos’ Head Coach Graham Arnold has named his 26-man squad to represent Australia at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan will captain the side in Qatar at what will be his third FIFA World Cup, with Mathew Leckie the other player in the squad selected to represent Australia at a FIFA World Cup for the third time.
This year’s tournament will be the second FIFA World Cup for Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek, Jackson Irvine, Jamie MacLaren, Aaron Mooy and Bailey Wright, with seventeen players selected in a FIFA World Cup squad for the first time.
Head Coach Graham Arnold said the Socceroos go to Qatar full of pride and belief after a challenging four years.
“It’s been a unique and difficult qualification campaign and we now arrive in Qatar with an exciting squad which will do everything to make Australia proud on the world stage,” Arnold said.
“Over the past four years, 32 players have made their debut for the national team. I want to thank every player who has helped the team over this journey. We have called upon 68 players during the qualifying campaign and every one of them has played a part in getting us here.”
“The make-up of our team reflects Australia’s multicultural landscape. Our boys come from all over the world, they all have different journeys, but we are united by one jersey,” Arnold expressed.
After securing qualification for the fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup, sixth appearance in total, the Socceroos will be looking to progress through the group stages for the first time since 2006.
The squad features nine members of the Tokyo 2020 Olyroos’ squad in Nathaniel Atkinson, Keanu Baccus, Thomas Deng, Cameron Devlin, Joel King, Riley McGree, Kye Rowles, Harry Souttar and Mitchell Duke as the overage player.
“We have worked hard to give younger players an opportunity over the campaign, to expose them to international football, to test them against the best and I’m thrilled with the development and maturity of this group who now get a chance on the biggest stage possible,” Arnold said.
The Socceroos kick off their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ campaign against defending champions France at Al Janoub Stadium on Tuesday, 22 November at 10.00pm local / Wednesday, 23 November 6:00am AEDT.
Socceroos Squad | FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™
Name | Current Club, Country | ‘A’ Caps (Goals) | Junior Club (Member Federation/Country) |
Nathaniel ATKINSON | Heart of Midlothian, Scotland | 5 (0) | Riverside Olympic FC / Football Tasmania |
Keanu BACCUS | St Mirren, Scotland | 1 (0) | Parklea FC / Football NSW |
Aziz BEHICH | Dundee United, Scotland | 53 (2) | Meadow Park SC / Football Victoria |
Martin BOYLE | Hibernian FC, Scotland | 19 (5) | Lewis United FC / Montrose FC (Scotland) |
Jason CUMMINGS | Central Coast Mariners, Australia | 1 (1) | Lothian Thistle Hutchinson Vale FC (Scotland) |
Milos DEGENEK | Columbus Crew, USA | 38 (1) | Blacktown City FC / Football NSW |
Thomas DENG | Albirex Niigata, Japan | 2 (0) | Adelaide Blue Eagles / Football South Australia |
Cameron DEVLIN | Heart of Midlothian, Scotland | 1 (0) | Sutherland Sharks / Football NSW |
Mitchell DUKE | Fagiano Okayama, Japan | 21 (8) | Liverpool Rangers SC / Football NSW |
Craig GOODWIN | Adelaide United, Australia | 10 (1) | Munro Para City FC / Football South Australia |
Ajdin HRUSTIC | Hellas Verona FC, Italy | 20 (3) | Heatherton United SC / Football Victoria |
Jackson IRVINE | FC St. Pauli, Germany | 49 (7) | Ringwood City SC / Football Victoria |
Fran KARACIC | Brescia Calcio, Italy | 11 (1) | NK Lokomotiva / Croatia |
Joel KING | Odense Boldklub, Denmark | 4 (0) | Shellharbour Junior FC / Football NSW |
Garang KUOL | Central Coast Mariners, Australia | 1 (0) | Goulburn Valley Suns / Football Victoria |
Mathew LECKIE | Melbourne City FC, Australia | 73 (13) | Brimbank Stallions FC / Football Victoria |
Awer MABIL | Cadiz CF, Spain | 29 (8) | Saint Augustines FC / Football South Australia |
Jamie MACLAREN | Melbourne City FC, Australia | 26 (8) | Green Gully SC / Football Victoria |
Riley MCGREE | Middlesbrough FC, England | 11 (1) | Gawler Eagles FC / Football South Australia |
Aaron MOOY | Celtic FC, Scotland | 53 (7) | Carlingford Redbacks FC / Football NSW |
Andrew REDMAYNE (Gk) | Sydney FC, Australia | 4 (0) | Gosford City Dragons FC / Football NSW |
Kye ROWLES | Heart of Midlothian, Scotland | 3 (0) | Palm Beach SC / Football QLD |
Mathew RYAN (Gk) (Cpt) | FC Copenhagen, Denmark | 75 (0) | Blacktown City FC / Football NSW |
Harry SOUTTAR | Stoke City, England | 10 (6) | Brechin City Boys Club (Scotland) |
Danny VUKOVIC (Gk) | Central Coast Mariners, Australia | 4 (0) | St Clair United SC / Football NSW |
Bailey WRIGHT | Sunderland AFC, England | 27 (2) | Langwarrin SC / Football Victoria |
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Schedule
Australia vs France
Tuesday, 22 November 10.00pm local / Wednesday, 23 November 6:00am AEDT
Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
Australia vs Tunisia
Saturday, 26 November 1.00pm local / Saturday, 26 November 9:00pm AEDT
Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
Australia vs Denmark
Wednesday, 30 November, 6.00pm local / Thursday, 1 December 2:00am AEDT
Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
Every match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will be shown live and free in Australia on SBS and SBS on Demand.
