15 Premier League stars at risk of missing out on World Cup including Isak and Sesko

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The 2026 World Cup is starting to take shape. A number of nations from all corners of the globe have sealed their places at next summer’s tournament.

They could be joined by even more over the coming months with the qualifying campaigns set to come to an end. England could become one of the latest sides to seal a ticket to the USA.

But with only a few qualifiers set to be played, some nations are in huge danger of missing out entirely - and that could well see some of the Premier League ’s biggest and best left on their sofas watching the tournament from home in 2026.

With that being said, Mirror Football runs through the biggest names who could potentially fail to qualify.

Sweden have had an absolutely woeful qualifying campaign so far: under Jon Dahl Tomasson, they sit bottom of Group B of the European qualifiers. They have just one point from four games, while they slipped to an embarrassing defeat to Kosovo in their most recent outing. Their form is baffling given the glittering talent that they have at their disposal, particularly in attack.

Liverpool star Alexander Isak is arguably one of the finest strikers in Europe, while Viktor Gyokeres is also a brilliant option to have. Anthony Elanga and Dejan Kulusevski are both key players for both their club and country but might not be at the World Cup next summer.

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Moving across to Africa, Cameroon have been involved in arguably one of the biggest stories of the qualifiers so far - unfortunately for them, it’s not their own World Cup place that’s the story. Cameroon have been beaten to an automatic spot by minnows Cape Verde.

They are second in their group with all fixtures having been played in their group. It now means that Cameroon are running the risk of being one of the lucky second-placed teams. And should they fail, that could see the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Carlos Baleba miss out.

Italy know all about failing to reach the World Cup. The four-time champions have failed to qualify for each of the last two tournaments and are under threat of making that a rather unwelcome hat-trick. Gennaro Gattuso’s side sit second in their group behind Norway with three games left to play. Should they fail to topple their rivals, they look likely to drop into the playoffs, which is no guarantee of a place at the tournament.

And should they fail, a number of Premier League stars would miss out. Goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma and Guglielmo Vicario are part of the Italian set-up, while Federico Chiesa and Riccardo Calafiori would be among the disappointed stars. Destiny Udogie and Sandro Tonali would also miss out.

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While Mbeumo might be left at home, his Manchester United teammate Benjamin Sesko could also be among the players not at the World Cup with Slovenia also enduring a poor qualification campaign.

They are third with no wins from four games in their group. Slovenia have just two games to turn their form around and seal a spot so they really need Sesko to step up to the plate if they are to do that.

Much like Cameroon, Nigeria are also under severe pressure of missing the World Cup. They currently sit third in their qualifying group and three points behind Benin with just one game left to go.

They need a win in their final match - ironically against Benin - and hope that South Africa drop points to stand any chance of qualifying automatically. And should they manage to do that, Fulham duo Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi will breathe huge sighs of relief.

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