No surprises in Turkiye's World Cup squad as Guler and Yildiz lead the way

Real Madrid's Arda Guler and Juventus' talented youngster Kenan Yildiz headline Turkiye's World Cup squad, with few surprises among Vincenzo Montella's 26-man group.

Turkiye are featuring at only their third World Cup overall and their first since 2002, when they finished third in South Korea and Japan.

They impressed in their qualification group, only finishing two points behind Spain before overcoming Romania and Kosovo – both by 1-0 scorelines – in the play-offs.

Montella's team will open their Group D campaign against Australia in Vancouver on June 13, before taking on Paraguay in San Francisco and the co-hosts, the United States, in Los Angeles. 

Yildiz and Guler will be among their key men at the tournament. The Juventus forward completed 3.5 dribbles per 90 in the UEFA World Cup qualifiers, with only Jeremy Doku (6.6) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (4.1) playing at least 500 minutes and bettering that average. 

Guler, meanwhile, has appeared in 51 games for Real Madrid in all competitions since the end of last year's Club World Cup, with only Vinicius Junior (53) featuring more often for Los Blancos in that time.

Guler led all Madrid players for chances created in 2025-26 (111) and was one of four players in their squad to reach 20 goal involvements (six goals, 14 assists).

Hakan Calhanoglu will wear the captain's armband, while Eintracht Frankfurt's Can Uzun is included after getting on the scoresheet in Monday's 4-0 friendly win over North Macedonia. 

Montella initially named a provisional group of 35 players, with nine being cut ahead of Tuesday's final squad announcement. 

Turkiye squad: Mert Gunok (Fenerbahce), Altay Bayindir (Manchester United), Ugurcan Cakir (Galatasaray); Zeki Celik (Roma), Merih Demiral (Al-Ahli), Caglar Soyuncu (Fenerbahce), Eren Elmali (Galatasaray), Abdulkerim Bardakci (Galatasaray), Ozan Kabak (Hoffenheim), Mert Muldur (Fenerbahce), Ferdi Kadioglu (Brighton), Samet Akaydin (Caykur Rizespor); Salih Ozcan (Borussia Dortmund), Orkun Kokcu (Besiktas), Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter), Ismail Yuksek (Fenerbahce), Kaan Ayhan (Galatasaray); Kerem Akturkoglu (Fenerbahce), Arda Guler (Real Madrid), Deniz Gul (Porto), Kenan Yildiz (Juventus), Irfan Can Kahveci (Kasımpasa), Yunus Akgun (Galatasaray), Baris Alper Yilmaz (Galatasaray), Oguz Aydin (Fenerbahce), Can Uzun (Eintracht Frankfurt).