Luis de la Fuente unveiled Spain’s 26-player squad for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday, a list he said had been “muy madurada, muy trabajada, muy analizada” after months under review. The coach leaned on performance to justify the returns of Eric Garcia and Marc Pubill, while choosing Joan Garcia over Alex Remiro in a goalkeeping group he described as covered by three players of “absoluta garantía.”
De la Fuente did not want to dwell on the absences of Dean Huijsen and Robin Le Normand, but he was direct about why Garcia and Pubill made the cut. Garcia has known him since the Sub-19 team, and Pubill from the Sub-21 side and the selección olímpica. The squad sets Spain on course for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the coach making clear that form, not reputation, drove the final list.
The most immediate name with a local angle is Javi Guerra, whom Valencia CF said is part of Spain’s senior national team as a support player in the first week of training camp. Valencia said his period runs from Saturday, 30 May at 17:00 until Thursday, 4 June, and added that he could get minutes against Iraq. Guerra also trained with the senior national team in June 2025, giving him another look in the international setup before the tournament build-up moves on.
That leaves Spain with the kind of selection that was never going to be settled by reputation alone. De la Fuente has spent months reviewing the squad, and this one reflects that work: 26 convocados, three trusted goalkeepers, and a group shaped by present form rather than past status. For players such as Guerra, the chance is not just to train, but to prove they belong when the competition gets real.
