Ex Royals (No not prince Andrew)

[The Cube]

Which Reading players can you watch at the 2026 World Cup?

None, but you may well find 8 (eight) ex-players you could follow (subject to their being called up and all have been making recent squads)…

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1	France			Michael Olise
2	Nederlands		Nathan Ake
3	Norway			Ørjan Nyland
4	Curacao			Leandro Bacuna
5	Austria			Kevin Danso
6	Argentina		Emiliano Martinez
7	New Zealand		Tyler Bindon
8	Iran			Saeed Ezatolahi

Junior Hoilett is still playing but is 35 now and hasn’t been called up for 12 months or more so Is probably unlikely to be involved.

Last world cup, i got told the stat that there were 40 odd players who had played for Reading and also at a World Cup (before, during or after their spell at Reading). It seemed just too high to be true and without like, Scotland # players , i honestly cba.

Cool story i guess.

Anyway, starting Scotland off with Leighton, Archibald.

The list I've got so far (based on playing at least a single minute in a competitive game for Reading and being in a World Cup squad):

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Player			Country		Years			Minutes
Steve Archibald		Scotland	1982; 1986		307
Jim Leighton		Scotland	1982*; 1986; 1990; 1998	810
Borislav Mikhailov	Bulgaria	1986; 1994; 1998*	975
Bob Lenarduzzi		Canada		1986			270
Kerry Dixon		England		1986			5
Chris Woods		England		1986*			0
Ray Houghton		Ireland		1990; 1994		818
Robert Fleck		Scotland	1990			95
Neil Webb		England		1990			19
Martin Keown		England		1998*; 2002*		0
Les Ferdinand		England		1998*			0
Seol Ki-hyeon		South Korea	2002; 2006		663
Ian Harte		Ireland		2002			277
Ulises de la Cruz	Ecuador		2002; 2006		630
Wayne Bridge		England		2002; 2006*		15
Shaka Hislop		Trinidad	2006			90
Bobby Convey		United States	2006			158
Emerse Fae		Ivory Coast	2006*			0
Marcus Hahnemann	United States	2006*			0
Yakubu			Nigeria		2010			250
Adam Federici		Australia	2010*			0
Gylfi Sigurðsson	Iceland		2018			270
Saeid Ezatolahi		Iran		2018; 2022		384
Jón Daði Böðvarsson	Iceland		2018			71
Emiliano Martinez	Argentina	2022			690
Nathan Aké		Netherlands	2022			480
Baba Rahman		Ghana		2022			182
Junior Hoilett		Canada		2022			162
Liam Fraser		Canada		2022*			0
Chris Gunter		Wales		2022*			0
Mamadou Loum		Senegal		2022*			0

That's thirty-one players, twenty-two who actually had minutes.

You've missed Jimmy Murray (Scotland, 1958), Jimmy Quinn (Northern Ireland, 1986, non-playing) and Matthew Upson (England, 2010). Otherwise I think that's right up to and including 2010.

There are some others who played for Reading in war-time matches, friendlies or reserve games, but I don't really think they count. Then there are various managers and other coaches who went to the World Cup.