Sweden name World Cup squad: Dejan Kulusevski misses out, strong Premier League contingent

Liverpool's Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres are named in Graham Potter's squad. Lukasz Germaniuk/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images Share articleSweden have announced their 26-man squad for the World Cup this summer, with Tottenham Hotspur’s Dejan Kulusevski missing out after his knee injury struggles. There is also no spot for Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji in head coach Graham Potter’s squad for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer. Premier League players Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak, Lucas Bergvall and Victor Lindelof are all included. Sweden will be making their first World Cup appearance since Russia 2018 this summer and are in Group F, alongside Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan. They qualified via the play-offs — beating Ukraine in the semi-final and Poland in the final — which they only progressed to thanks to their 2024-25 Nations League performance. Here’s everything you need to know about the squad. Bardghji was an outside bet for the squad. The 20-year-old Kuwait-born winger made his national team debut in October and has played once under Potter since the former West Ham United, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion coach’s appointment that month. He has been a bit-part player for Barcelona during their successful La Liga title defence this season, scoring twice and providing four assists in 26 appearances across all competitions. Two of the other key omissions are Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Hugo Larsson and Celta Vigo winger Williot Swedberg. Larsson, 21, missed Potter’s first Sweden camp in November with a muscle injury and was on the bench for both play-off ties. Swedberg, 22, had not played for Sweden since his debut in June 2024 but has been involved in 16 goals for Celta this season (nine goals, seven assists), helping the Spanish side to the Europa League quarter-finals, where they lost against finalists Freiburg. There is also no spot for 23-year-old Benfica left-back Samuel Dahl, although he had not been capped since 2024. Emil Forsberg, the veteran New York Red Bulls attacking midfielder who last featured for Sweden in November, is another to miss out. The big surprises are Malmo winger Taha Ali and Alexander Bernhardsson, the forward who plays for second-division German side Holstein Kiel. Ali, 27, has only been capped once, more than two years ago in January 2024, while he was an unused substitute in the play-offs. Bernhardsson has featured regularly for Holstein Kiel this season but his inclusion ahead of some of the attacking names previously mentioned may raise eyebrows among Sweden supporters. A mention, too, for Ken Sema, the 32-year-old former Watford midfielder now playing for Cypriot side Pafos, who Potter knows well from their time together at Swedish side Ostersunds. Kulusevski has not played since May 2025, after a right knee injury which required patella cartilage surgery. The 26-year-old underwent another procedure for that issue in March but joined up with Potter’s squad for the play-offs that month and had been aiming to return for the tournament. Gustav Lundgren, a winger who plays for Allsvenskan side GAIS, will also be missed after tearing his Achilles tendon in April. He only played nine minutes in the play-off final against Poland as a substitute, but it was his run down the right that led to Gyokeres’ winner that sent Sweden to North America. AIK’s former Swansea City goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfelt started the play-off semi-final against Ukraine and the final against Poland in March, but those were his first competitive appearances for his country in five years. The 36-year-old is an experienced option who has been to four European Championships and was in the squad for their run to the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals, albeit he has never featured at a major tournament. Potter used Derby County’s Jacob Widell Zetterstrom and Stoke City ‘keeper Viktor Johansson in his only other two games as Sweden coach in November. Zetterstrom achieved only his second cap for his country after first appearing for them two years earlier, while Johansson has played for them 12 times. Zetterstrom only returned for Derby in April after an “infection that gave me some complications” which ruled him out from late January, as he told the club’s official channels. Sweden will face Erling Haaland and company in a friendly against Norway in Oslo on June 1. They will then travel to Stockholm for their pre-World Cup send-off against Greece on June 4. Goalkeepers: Viktor Johansson (Stoke City), Kristoffer Nordfeldt (AIK Fotboll), Jacob Widell Zetterstrom (Derby County) Defenders: Hjalmar Ekdal (Burnley), Gabriel Gudmundsson (Leeds United), Isak Hien (Atalanta), Emil Holm (Bologna), Gustaf Lagerbielke (Braga), Victor Lindelof (Aston Villa), Eric Smith (St. Pauli), Carl Starfelt (Celta Vigo), Elliot Stroud (Mjallby AIF), Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund) Midfielders: Taha Ali (Malmo FF), Yasin Ayari (Brighton & Hove Albion), Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham Hotspur), Jesper Kalstrom (Udinese), Benjamin Nygren (Celtic), Ken Sema (Pafos), Mattias Svanberg (VfL Wolfsburg), Besfort Zeneli (Union Saint-Gilloise) Forwards: Alexander Bernhardsson (Holstein Kiel), Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United), Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal), Alexander Isak (Liverpool), Gustaf Nilsson (Club Brugge) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms