Australia national football team players: the 25 Popovic picked for Qatar and Jordan, and the seven yet to play
Tony Popovic has left out Mathew Ryan, Jackson Irvine, Milos Degenek and Aiden O’Neill and called up seven uncapped players for Australia’s November friendlies in Qatar and Jordan. Here is the full Socceroos squad with caps, goals and clubs, and how the Brazil games went.
Sep 23, 2026 · Updated Nov 9, 2026
Tony Popovic has named 25 Australia national football team players for friendlies against Qatar in Doha on 13 November and Jordan in Amman on 17 November, and seven of them have never played for the Socceroos. There are eight changes from the squad that drew 1-1 with Brazil in Townsville and lost 4-2 in Brisbane in September, and the most experienced players of the last two years are missing: Mathew Ryan, Jackson Irvine, Miloš Degenek and Aiden O’Neill are all left out.
Below is the full squad by position with caps, goals and clubs, the players who have dropped out, how the Brazil games went, and why the Asian Cup is now a year away instead of two months.
Australia squad for Qatar and Jordan
Caps and goals are correct as of 29 September 2026, after the second Brazil game; Australia have not played since. Positions are as Football Australia listed them.
Goalkeepers
| Player | Club | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Beach | Troyes (France) | 8 | 0 |
| Joe Gauci | Lincoln City (England) | 8 | 0 |
| Tom Glover | RB Omiya Ardija (Japan) | 0 | 0 |
Defenders
| Player | Club | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kealey Adamson | QPR (England) | 0 | 0 |
| Aziz Behich | Melbourne City (Australia) | 89 | 3 |
| Kasey Bos | Excelsior (Netherlands) | 0 | 0 |
| Alessandro Circati | Benfica (Portugal) | 19 | 2 |
| Jason Geria | Albirex Niigata (Japan) | 18 | 0 |
| Diesel Herrington | Central Coast Mariners (Australia) | 0 | 0 |
| Lucas Herrington | Hull City (England) | 8 | 0 |
| Jacob Italiano | Grazer AK (Austria) | 9 | 0 |
| Harry Souttar | Leicester City (England) | 44 | 11 |
Midfielders
| Player | Club | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Klein | St Pauli (Germany) | 0 | 0 |
| Riley McGree | Middlesbrough (England) | 37 | 1 |
| Connor Metcalfe | St Pauli (Germany) | 42 | 3 |
| Paul Okon-Engstler | FC Köln (Germany) | 12 | 0 |
| Gianni Stensness | Viking (Norway) | 2 | 0 |
| Patrick Yazbek | Nashville SC (USA) | 11 | 0 |
Forwards
| Player | Club | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Adams | Gamba Osaka (Japan) | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Arzani | Ferencváros (Hungary) | 11 | 1 |
| Nestory Irankunda | Sporting CP (Portugal) | 21 | 7 |
| Thomas Waddingham | Portsmouth (England) | 0 | 0 |
| Kusini Yengi | Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan) | 11 | 6 |
| Tete Yengi | Machida Zelvia (Japan) | 5 | 1 |
| Marcus Younis | Brøndby (Denmark) | 2 | 0 |
The seven who have never played
Tom Glover, Kealey Adamson, Kasey Bos, Diesel Herrington, Sam Klein, Eli Adams and Thomas Waddingham are all uncapped. Diesel Herrington of the Central Coast Mariners, Portsmouth’s Thomas Waddingham and Sam Klein, the former Brisbane Roar midfielder now at St Pauli, are first-time call-ups. Adamson, Kasey Bos and Adams were in the September squad without getting on the pitch.
Daniel Arzani returns after finding form at Ferencváros, Gianni Stensness is back, goalkeepers Joe Gauci and Tom Glover are recalled, and Kusini Yengi joins his brother Tete in the squad.
Who has been left out
Nine of the 26 from September are not in this squad: Paul Izzo, Jacob Chapman, Miloš Degenek, Dylan Leonard, Jackson Irvine, Aiden O’Neill, Alexander Robertson, Mohamed Touré and Yaya Dukuly. The four biggest names, Ryan, Irvine, Degenek and O’Neill, hold 287 caps between them. Neither Football Australia nor the reports of the squad gave reasons, and ABC News reported that it was unclear whether any of them had made themselves unavailable over security concerns about the trip to Jordan.
Ryan had already been left out in September. He is the third most-capped player in Australia’s history, behind Mark Schwarzer on 109 and Tim Cahill on 108, but he lost his place during the World Cup to Patrick Beach and appeared only when Popovic sent him on for the shootout against Egypt. Beach played in both Brazil games.
Where the experience and the goals are
The whole squad has 357 caps. Only one player has more than 50: Aziz Behich, on 89. Behind him come Souttar on 44 and Connor Metcalfe on 42, so with Irvine and Degenek gone the drop-off after the left-back is steep.
The goals are thinner still. The 25 have scored 35 international goals between them. Tim Cahill scored 50 on his own. The leading scorer in the squad is a centre-back: Harry Souttar has 11 from 44 games. Nestory Irankunda is next on 7, then Kusini Yengi on 6, and nobody else has more than three.
Only two of the 25 play their club football in Australia, Aziz Behich and Diesel Herrington. The rest are spread across eleven countries, with six in England and five in Japan.
How the Brazil friendlies went
| Date | Match | Result | Australia scorers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September | Australia v Brazil, Townsville | Drew 1-1 | Nestory Irankunda |
| 29 September | Australia v Brazil, Brisbane | Lost 2-4 | Alessandro Circati, Connor Metcalfe |
Irankunda put Australia ahead in Townsville with 22 minutes left and Brazil equalised in the last minute. In Brisbane Brazil scored after three minutes, Circati and Metcalfe turned it round to 2-1 by the 33rd minute, and Brazil then scored three, two of them penalties. Of the seven uncapped players in the September squad, only Marcus Younis got on the pitch, and he played in both games.
Australia have beaten Brazil once, 1-0 in the third-place play-off at the 2001 Confederations Cup in Ulsan, through a late Shaun Murphy goal. For the players Brazil can call on, see our Brazil squad page.
How Australia’s World Cup ended
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 13 June | Australia v Turkey | Won 2-0 |
| 19 June | USA v Australia | Lost 2-0 |
| 25 June | Paraguay v Australia | Drew 0-0 |
| 3 July | Australia v Egypt (round of 32) | 1-1, lost 4-2 on penalties |
Australia opened Group D by beating Turkey 2-0 in Vancouver, with Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe scoring. They did enough after that to reach the knockout rounds for the third time, then drew 1-1 with Egypt, equalising through an own goal, and lost the shootout 4-2. Souttar missed the first penalty. Egypt went through to the last 16 for the first time in their history.
We have profiled three of those opponents: the Turkey squad, the Paraguay squad and the Egypt squad.
Qatar, Jordan, and an Asian Cup a year away
The November games were meant to be the last preparation for the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in January. They are not any more: the tournament has been moved to December 2027, which ABC News reported was over security concerns in the host country, and Popovic said the 2030 World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup are now both in the second half of 2027.
| Date | Match | Kick-off (local) | Kick-off (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 13 November | Qatar v Australia, Doha | 5.45pm | 8.15pm |
| Tue 17 November | Jordan v Australia, Amman International Stadium | 7pm | 9.30pm |
The Jordan game is the uncertain one. Professional Footballers Australia said the players had overwhelmingly asked for it to be rescheduled or moved, Indonesia recently cancelled their own friendly in Jordan, and Football Australia said it would keep assessing the security situation. When the squad was named, nothing had changed about the fixture.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Australia’s football coach? Tony Popovic, who took over from Graham Arnold in September 2024 during World Cup qualifying.
Who is the most capped Australia player? Mark Schwarzer, with 109. Tim Cahill has 108 and Mathew Ryan 105.
Who is Australia’s top scorer? Tim Cahill, with 50 goals in 108 games.
When do Australia play next? Qatar in Doha on Friday 13 November 2026 and Jordan in Amman on Tuesday 17 November.