Why Phil Foden didn't make England's World Cup squad
The Manchester City standout misses out on the 2026 tournament.
Why Phil Foden didn't make England's World Cup squad originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Phil Foden is one of the top footballers in the world when he's on form.
But without being in good form, the Manchester City man has been left out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup England squad, according to The Athletic . Foden is one of the highest-profile omissions, along with Chelsea 's Cole Palmer and Manchester United 's Harry Maguire. Prior to this, Foden has 49 caps for his country, and he was in the squad for the 2022 World Cup as well as the European Championships in 2020 and 2024.
MORE: Why Cole Palmer missed out on England selection Why didn't Phil Foden make England's World Cup squad? Foden was left out after a bumpy Premier League season with Manchester City. "It is no great surprise that Foden has not made the squad and even his biggest supporters would surely have to admit that he has not done enough to deserve a call up this season, given his poor form and lack of game time for City this calendar year," The Athletic's Sam Lee wrote on Thursday.
"The fact that Tuchel has been ruthless with Palmer shows there is some consistency to his decisions, too. " Foden is clearly a game-changing player at his best, but other England choices had played more minutes and more effectively in the 2025-26 campaign. Frankly, he picked a bad time to have a bad season.