Barcelona versatile star pushing for spot in Spain squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup | OneFootball

Eric Garcia’s growth into one of FC Barcelona’s most dependable players over the past year has been nothing short of brilliant.

The 25-year-old versatile star, at one point, was close to leaving the club in search of regular game-time, but manager Hansi Flick stepped in and stopped his departure.

From that point on, the defender has not looked back, becoming a reliable player and delivering strong performances – be it at centre-back, right-back, or in defensive midfield.

World Cup push continues for Eric

As such, Mundo Deportivo reports that Eric Garcia is continuing to show that he is a serious and consistent candidate to be included in the Spain squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This comes as the versatile star has now played 55 games consecutively for Barcelona, with his last absence dating as far back as March 2025, when he missed the Champions League fixture against SL Benfica.

This season he has accumulated more than 2,700 minutes out of a possible 3,240. He has not missed any of Barcelona’s 36 matches, which makes him one of the players with the greatest regularity and leadership in the squad.

55 games without a break for Barcelona. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

Not even a broken nose suffered against Club Brugge kept him out of the team. And his excellent season has reopened the debate about a return to the Spanish national team.

Garcia is one of the defenders with the highest passing accuracy, hovering between 89 and 91 per cent this season in LaLiga and other club competitions.

In the 2025/26 Champions League, he has maintained an accuracy rate of 90.5 per cent, completing 468 of 506 attempted passes in European matches.

Garcia’s presence helps the team concede fewer goals per game, with an average of 0.83 when he is on the pitch, underlining his physical reliability and availability.

Not played for Spain in a while

Eric has not featured for the senior national team for some time. After representing Spain at youth levels, he made his senior debut on 6 September 2020, coming on for Sergio Ramos in the second half of a 4-0 win against Ukraine in the 2020/21 Nations League.

In 2021, he was selected for the Euro 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The following year, he was included in the squad for the World Cup in Qatar, a tournament in which he did not play a single minute.

Garcia was part of the Spain U-23 side that won gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024. But he has not played for the senior national team since September 2022. His current form, though, has sparked a strong debate over his presence in the squad for the World Cup.