The Socceroos will face off against Turkiye, the United States and Paraguay in Group D at the finals, as Tony Popovic looks to lead his side to success following on from the journey to the last-16 stage in Qatar four years ago.
However, the make-up of the squad will be markedly different when Australia faces off against Turkiye in its opening match of the tournament in Vancouver, Canada on June 14.
One major omission from the roster is Kuol, who burst onto the scene at the last finals - becoming the youngest player since legendary Brazilian forward Pele back in 1958 to feature in the knockout stages of the competition.
The Sparta Prague attacker last appeared for his country back in March of 2023, failing to add to his five senior international caps in the time since Popovic was appointed as Socceroos boss in 2024.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for the ex-Central Coast Mariners striker, as he failed to make the cut for a 30-man training camp squad in Florida in the build up to this year’s tournament.
Since the last World Cup, the Goulburn Valley star has experienced something of a journeyman career, having moved to Newcastle United in the English Premier League before heading to the Czech First Division with Sparta via loan spells in Scotland and the Netherlands.
This season, the 21-year-old has made 31 appearances for Sparta, scoring once in a UEFA Conference League clash with Aberdeen.
However, his performances were not deemed sufficient reason for Popovic to offer him a recall to the seniors set-up - as uncapped forwards Cristian Volpato and Tete Yengi were instead preferred in the 26-man squad.
After officially announcing his picks for the finals in the US, Canada and Mexico, the Australian head coach admitted that making the all-important selection call had been difficult.
“A range of factors has gone into selecting this final World Cup squad. Some difficult decisions had to be made – that’s the nature of major tournaments,” Popovic said.
“But it’s also a credit to all the players involved over the past few weeks who worked extremely hard during an extended and challenging pre-camp.”
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