Henn names 25-man squad for Estonia's World Cup qualifiers against Israel and Moldova
The Estonian men's national football team will kick off their World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign next week when they face Israel and then Moldova away from home. Head coach Jürgen Henn has named a 25-man squad for the two matches, which will both be shown live on ETV2.
Estonian captain Karol Mets (St. Pauli) will miss out on both games due to injury. "Karol's absence will definitely test us. We will have to find other players to make up for him not being there," said head coach Jürgen Henn. "I'm in constant communication with Karol, keeping him involved in our plans to make his arrival in the summer window as smooth as possible."
In addition to Mets, midfielder Rocco Robert Shein (Fredrikstad) is also recovering from injury, and so he too is not yet ready to join up with the squad.
The Estonian squad will assemble on Sunday March 16 before traveling together to Hungary for their first qualifier against Israel. The match will take place on Saturday March 22 Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen. All the action is live on ETV2 here, with kick off at 9.45 p.m. Estonian time.
Three days later, the team travel to Chisinau to take on Moldova. That game will also be live on ETV2 here on Tuesday March 25, with kick off at 7 p.m. Estonian time.
Estonia's other opponents in their four-team qualifying group will be Norway as the aim to make it to the 2026 World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The full Estonian squad to face Israel and Moldova:
Goalkeepers
Karl Jakob Hein (Real Valladolid)
Matvei Igonen (Botev Plovdiv)
Karl Andre Vallner (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Defenders
Joonas Tamm (Botev Plovidiv)
Maksim Paskotši (Grasshoppers Zürich)
Märten Kuusk (GKS Katowice)
Rasmus Peetson (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Michael Schjønning-Larsen (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Kristo Hussar (Flora Tallinn)
Joseph Saliste (Paide Linnameeskond)
Tanel Tammik (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Midfielders
Mattias Käit (FC Rapid)
Vlasiy Sinyavskiy (FC Slovacko)
Martin Miller (Paide Linnameeskond)
Markus Poom (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Mihkel Ainsalu (FCI Levadia Tallinn)
Markus Soomets (FC Den Bosch)
Kevor Palumets (Železiarne Podbrezová )
Ioan Yakovlev (Panionios)
Patrik Kristal (FC Köln)
Dimitri Jepihhin (AS Trencin)
Forwards
Henri Anier (Lee Man)
Rauno Sappinen (Flora Tallinn)
Alex Matthias Tamm (Ljubljana Olimpija)
Robi Saarma (Paide Linnameeskond)
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Editor: Henrik Laever, Michael Cole
