Sweden coach Graham Potter announced that Liverpool forward Alexander Isak and Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres have made the team’s World Cup roster, while Tottenham forward Dejan Kulusevski was left off the 26-player squad.
Isak has endured an injury-plagued season at Liverpool, having starting only eight league matches following his record transfer from Newcastle last summer. He and Gyokeres are two of 11 British-based players on the roster.
“When you’ve had a long-term injury, it is never a straight road back. There is often one step forward and one step back,” Potter told reporters at a press conference in Stockholm. “Our challenge is to get Alex the best moment of the season and for him to hit top form, because if he does, he is a world-class player.”
Kulusevski, also 26, has been sidelined since undergoing knee surgery in May 2025.
“A very, very difficult decision in terms of where he has been and what he’s done over the last year, where he’s at in terms of his rehab with four and a half weeks to go to that first game,” Potter said, per the BBC.
FC Dallas’ Herman Johansson, Celta de Vigo’s Williot Swedberg and Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji also failed to make the roster. Johansson is a reserve who will be available during pre-tournament friendlies.
Sweden qualified for the 2026 World Cup with wins over Ukraine and Poland in the playoffs after finishing atop their Nations League group. That came after a poor qualifying campaign that saw them earn only two points without a victory.
Gyokeres emerged as a key factor, scoring the late winning goal against Poland in March to help Sweden reach their first World Cup since 2018.
Other notable names on the roster include midfielders Yasin Ayari (Brighton) and Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham), Aston Villa defender Victor Lindelof, Celtic forward Benjamin Nygren and Newcastle winger Anthony Elanga.
Sweden will play friendlies in Norway on June 1 and home against Greece on June 4 before traveling to their World Cup base camp in Frisco, Texas. They open Group F play against Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico on June 14 before traveling to the United States for games against 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
