Why There Are No Real Madrid Players in Spain’s World Cup Squad | OneFootball

For the first time in soccer history, there will be no Real Madrid players in Spain’s squad for this year’s World Cup. This is nothing short of a surreal sporting anomaly. How can the most successful Spanish club fail to produce a single player for it’s national team on the biggest stage in sports?

Luis de la Fuente has taken a bold call to not include a single Los Blancos player traveling to North America this summer; a decision that has sparked outrage among Madridistas both in Spain and globally.

La Liga teams at the World Cup for Spain

From Fernando Hierro, Raúl, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and more, the Santiago Bernabéu has always provided players for Spain to take to the sport’s biggest stage. So what’s the story behind the lack of Real Madrid players in Spain’s World Cup squad discussions this summer? Is Luis de la Fuente secretly biased toward Barcelona? Are the players in the Spanish capital not good enough? Let’s find out.

An Unprecedented Situation

Spain has played in 17 World Cup tournaments since the establishment of the competition in 1930. According to La Liga en Números, Spain has called up 74 Real Madrid players during that period. Only twice has there been a Spain squad with two or fewer Real Madrid players in the World Cup. One was the most recent edition in 2022 with Dani Carvajal and Marco Asensio, and the other was way back in 1950 when they only had one player, Luis Molowny.

Zero Real Madrid players in the Spain World Cup squad history makes sense when you look at the current roster makeup at the club. Only seven Spaniards are playing for Real Madrid at the moment. That’s less than a quarter of the squad for Spain’s capital club. To put that into perspective, Barcelona has more players called up to the World Cup for Spain than there are total eligible Spanish players at Real Madrid.

Two back-to-back seasons without a trophy and poor performances left Luis de la Fuente with little choice but to look elsewhere to build his XI. But could there have at least been one inclusion?

Are They All That Bad?

Antonio, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, is a lifelong Real Madrid fan based in Madrid. Speaking to Hooligan Soccer, he believes the absence of Real Madrid players in the Spain World Cup squad is justified because there simply aren’t enough elite Spanish performers at the club right now.

“My worry isn’t about not having Real Madrid Spanish players in the World Cup but more about not having top Spanish players in Real Madrid,” said Antonio.

He also highlighted that the club’s Galáctico policy and search for foreign talent has resulted in fewer emotionally connected Spanish players rising through the ranks.

“[Real Madrid needs] in particular two or three of them coming from lower categories that really feel the club in their hearts and are emotionally bonded.”

Speaking about the situation objectively, Antonio admitted that the Spanish contingent at the club simply didn’t perform well enough this season.

“Carreras didn’t perform well and Carvajal has been injured most of the season, so no big complaints on that. The remaining Spaniards on the team are just not good enough.”

The Key Casualties

Of those aforementioned seven players at the club, realistically only a few ever had a chance. Let’s take a look at them.

Dani Carvajal’s Final Chapter

The Real Madrid captain would have expected to carry the club’s banner into another major tournament after helping Spain win Euro 2024. Instead, injuries completely derailed his campaign.

After leading Real Madrid to their first El Clásico win in four attempts, Carvajal suffered another knee injury in October. The injury impacted the same knee where he ruptured ligaments just a year prior. When he returned, Trent Alexander-Arnold had already overtaken him in the pecking order.

Carvajal managed only 17 La Liga appearances and completed the full 90 minutes just four times all season. He missed over three months through injury and was unavailable for 18 Real Madrid matches.

Ultimately, Spain moved toward a more dynamic right-sided setup featuring Pedro Porro and Marcos Llorente.

Dean Huijsen: The Biggest Shock

Dean Huijsen’s omission was undoubtedly the biggest surprise surrounding the Real Madrid players in the Spain World Cup squad debate.

The Dutch-born defender switched his international allegiance to Spain after moving to Marbella at the age of five and eventually gaining citizenship in 2024. Despite that, Luis de la Fuente left out perhaps the most deserving Real Madrid representative.

“Of the World Cup squad, I only think that Huijsen deserved it and he’s better than those going,” Antonio told Hooligan Soccer.

Standing at 6’7″, Huijsen played over 3,000 minutes this season and established himself as one of Europe’s most physically dominant young defenders. Injuries to Antonio Rüdiger and Éder Militão gave him extended opportunities, and he ended up playing more minutes than both combined.

But there is the question of his profile. Huijsen is a ball playing defender who has elite physicality and is a dominant force in aerial duels. But De la Fuente’s system relies heavily on center-backs who operate essentially as deep-lying playmakers. Barcelona’s 19-year-old Pau Cubarsí and Athletic Club’s Aymeric Laporte offer a level of line-breaking passing ability that fits Spain’s possession-heavy DNA slightly better than Huijsen’s more traditional defensive profile.

The inclusion of Eric García over Huijsen has also caused outrage among fans.

“It’s not something I’m upset about, but it does feel a bit unfair. Players like Gavi barely played this season, and selecting Eric García over someone like Huijsen is definitely a debatable decision,” said Jyotirmoy, a Real Madrid fan from Bangladesh who has closely followed the last three World Cups.

While García cannot match Huijsen’s physical dominance, he offers versatility as he can play in multiple positions at the back, including DM. An expanded 48 team World Cup in North American summer might cause fatigue and injuries to key players, that’s when Garcia’s profile could really come in handy.

The Fringe Casualties

Fran García and Dani Ceballos were never realistic contenders for the Spain World Cup squad. Both endured disappointing domestic seasons and fell down the pecking order under Álvaro Arbeloa.

Gonzalo García, meanwhile, came very close. Garcia had the best chance to be one of the only Real Madrid players in the Spain World Cup squad but the young striker narrowly missed the final 26-man roster. He will still train with the squad during the preparation camp as a standby option in case injuries arise.

Álvaro Carreras also misses out despite a brilliant run in Benfica before returning to Madrid this season. He started brightly, but struggled badly following Xabi Alonso’s departure. Since April, he started only four La Liga games and missed several major European knockout fixtures against Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

Seemingly losing his form after Alonso’s departure, De la Fuente opted for the relentless engine of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella and the playmaking prowess of Bayer Leverkusen’s Álex Grimaldo.

If Spain lifts the World Cup trophy in July, the absence of Real Madrid players will be a sore point fans of FC Barcelona will continue to rub into Madridistas for eternity. But if La Roja stumbles in the knockout rounds, de la Fuente knows exactly which media outlets will come for him first. And trust me, the ones from the Spanish capital will not be forgiving.

Read about Spain’s Full Squad Breakdown Here.