Every Liverpool Player Not Going to 2026 World Cup

After an underwhelming campaign for the reigning Premier League champions, Liverpool stars will be seeking redemption with their national teams at this summer’s World Cup.

Many of Liverpool’s high-flyers will be teaming up with their international teammates for this summer’s tournament, those representing the likes of Brazil, France and Argentina harboring genuine ambitions of returning to Merseyside in July as world champions.

However, others on Liverpool’s roster are not so fortunate. A number of first-teamers will miss out on the chance to represent their country on the grandest stage, those nations failing to qualify for the 48-team tournament in North America.

Here are the Liverpool players who will be absent from the World Cup.

Every Liverpool Player Not Playing at the 2026 World Cup

Giorgi Mamardashvili

Alisson will be journeying to North America with record world champions Brazil, but the goalkeeper’s Liverpool deputy doesn’t have that luxury. Giorgi Mamardashvili, who has been seen infrequently during his debut Anfield term, and his Georgia teammates were unable to qualify.

Despite qualifying for and impressing at Euro 2024, Georgia’s World Cup qualifying was disastrous. The team took just three points from six group stage games against Spain, Türkiye and Bulgaria.

Milos Kerkez

An arduous first season with Liverpool has been compounded by international disappointment for Milos Kerkez. Hungary was seconds away from securing its place in the playoffs back in November’s final qualifier, but a late winner for Republic of Ireland in a rollercoaster 3–2 defeat for Kerkez’s side eliminated them.

Kerkez will now have a free summer, which could work out well for Liverpool. An uninterrupted preseason could prove hugely beneficial as the youngster continues to get to grips with the challenges of playing for one of soccer’s giants.

Conor Bradley

Northern Ireland, unlike Hungary, was able to secure a place in the European qualification playoffs, but a semifinal against Italy was always going to prove a step too far. The 2–0 defeat in Bergamo marked the end of attempts to reach North America.

Conor Bradley proved a sizeable absentee for Northern Ireland in the fixture, the right back sidelined until the end of the season with a knee injury. He would have been a doubt for the tournament regardless of Northern Ireland’s involvement.

Giovanni Leoni

Italy may have conquered Northern Ireland in a playoff semifinal, but, for the third World Cup qualification campaign in a row, thefour-time winner still missed out on progression to the tournament itself. Another embarrassing playoff final defeat, this time at the hands of Bosnia and Herzegovina, means the Azzurri will once again be watching from home.

Giovanni Leoni was never going to be involved in Italy’s roster, especially after a season-ending ACL injury back in September, but he will be enormously disappointed regardless after witnessing another implosion from his country.

Dominik Szoboszlai

Dominik Szoboszlai’s exceptional campaign with Liverpool deserves to be extended into the summer, but the all-action midfielder joins his compatriot Kerkez as one of the high-profile names on the World Cup absentee list.

Hungary’s failure to qualify will sting for captain Szoboszlai, especially considering the form he’s exhibiting for the Reds, and the two-time runner-up will now have to wait until 2030 for a first World Cup appearance since 1986.

Federico Chiesa

A hero of Euro 2020, Federico Chiesa could have made the Italy roster for this summer’s tournament, but whether his bit-part performances for Liverpool would have been enough to secure his berth will now never be known.

It appears increasingly unlikely that Chiesa will be a Liverpool player come the beginning of the new season, and the World Cup could have provided the winger with an opportunity to put himself back in the shop window.