BlattNews

By Wyatt Blatt

Barcelona, Spain, 5/25/26:

In preparation for the upcoming 2026 World Cup, which is set to start June 17th, the national teams participating in the tournament must submit their official final rosters by June 1st, with the majority being released in the final couple weeks of May. Considered one of the favorites to win the World Cup, Spain released their official roster on the morning of May 25th with a particularly strong squad.

Consisting of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, seven midfielders, and eight attackers, the Spanish NT is headlined by superstars Lamine Yamal and Pedri. In addition to the two, there are a total of eight Barcelona players selected for the squad with five of them projected to start, two to come on from the bench, and keeper Joan Garcia splitting time with David Raya. Although standout center-back Gerard Martin was left out of the squad despite having six clean sheets and winning 66% of his duels, the Barcelona side remains the heart of the Spanish NT as it represents the near majority of the starting eleven. Also left out of the squad was Barca midfielder Fermin Lopez, who fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in Barcelona’s May 17th win over Real Betis, which will unfortunately force the 23 year old who was set to start in the Spanish eleven to miss the World Cup with a projected three month timeline for recovery.

On the other side of things in Madrid, zero Real Madrid players were even selected to the bench. Following a rocky season full of in-fighting that culminated in Barca winning the LaLiga title over them in a humiliating el clasico loss, Spanish fans of Real Madrid at least hoped to see a couple of their players represent their dirty club in the World Cup for their national team, mainly center-back Dean Huijsen and right-back Dani Carvajal. However though, Carvajal would be properly snubbed to make room for Barca CB Eric Garcia and Carvajal similarly for Pau Cubarsi, symbolizing the complete dominance of Barca over Real Madrid.

Following the exclusion of Real Madrid players and the inclusion of a plethora of Barca players, the Spanish NT arguably boasts its strongest squad in years, looking to follow in the footsteps of Barcelona legends Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, David Villa, Carles Puyol, and Gerard Pique that won the 2010 World Cup. For that Spanish victory, Barcelona is often referred to as the first club to win a world cup due to its players filling six out of eleven starting spots for the team as well as Andres Iniesta scoring the winning lone goal in the final versus the Netherlands.

Below I have included my projected starting XI: