The World Cup is just over a month away, and anticipation is building around which players will be making the trip to Qatar to represent England.
The Three Lions come into this tournament in poor form, but after reaching the Euros final just over 12 months ago, they’ll be fancying their chances to make a deep run in Qatar.
Before a ball is kicked, Gareth Southgate first needs to decide which players he’s going to trust to take to world football’s biggest tournament, but when will that decision come?
When will the England World Cup squad be announced?
There is no official time and date for this announcement as of yet, but the provisional squad is to be announced on or before October 20.
October 20 is the deadline for the provisional squad to be named, and before the last World Cup, Southgate did wait until the day of the deadline.
However, we may not learn all that much from this squad. You are able to name up to 55 players in the provisional squad, and while Southgate almost certainly won’t name that many, it may be a little while before we see how the final squad shapes up.
As for the squad that will actually play in Qatar. Southgate has until November 12 to decide on that front, but replacements for any injured players can be made up to 24 hours before the start of the tournament on November 20.
How many players will be in the squad?
The provisional squad can contain up to 55 players, but it’s incredibly rare that a manager will select that big of a pool.
Usually, we see a 30-man squad announcement before it is whittled down to 23. However, at this World Cup, each country can name a 26-man squad if they wish to, so perhaps the provisional squad will also be larger in-line with these new rules.
However, when it comes to the actual squad, it has to be a minimum of 23 players, but a 26-man squad is likely to be named
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