Claim: Portugal announced their 2026 World Cup final squad and omitted Pedro Neto and Bruno Fernandes from it.
Conclusion: The claim is false. Portugal had not announced its final 2026 World Cup squad as of 18 May, 2026. There is no evidence, official statements or verified reports to support the claim and the image in the claim is generated using AI.
Rating: False 
Several social media users have claimed that Portugal has announced their 2026 FIFA World Cup squad. Verified X user ‘@_01Legion’ shared such a post with the caption : “NEW: Portugal announced their 2026 World Cup final squads. Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto have been left out of the World Cup squad.” The post includes a graphic styled as an official FPF/FIFA squad list of Portugal. The post gained over 1.3 million views and can be seen below –
🚨NEW: Portugal announced their 2026 World Cup final squads. 🇵🇹
Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto have been left out of the World Cup squads. pic.twitter.com/j4vcbKJWFf
— Legion (@_01Legion) May 15, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims that can be seen here and here
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. No verified reports, official announcements, or credible evidence support the circulating claim, while the image attached to it appears to have been created using AI-generated content.
We first conducted a web search with the phrase “Has Portugal announced their official World Cup Squad” to learn more about the claim. However, we did not come across any reports or authentic evidence which suggests such an announcement. No statement from the Portuguese Football Federation, FIFA or credible outlets confirms any squad release or the exclusion of Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto.
According to a report by Sporting News, Portugal are set to reveal their final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, May 19. The report noted that FIFA rules require all participating nations to submit their “final, whittled-down list” by May 30, with Roberto Martinez (head coach of the Portugal national team) expected to announce a full 26-man squad. It also added that Cristiano Ronaldo is “expected” to be included in his sixth World Cup. View a section from the report below –
Following this, another report by Business Standard stated that Portugal’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is “yet to be announced.” The report highlights the growing anticipation around what is expected to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup appearance. Moreover, it describes Portugal as one of their “most balanced and complete squads in recent memory” under Roberto Martínez, with stars like Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, and João Neves strengthening belief that this “could finally be the year” they reach a World Cup final. View a section from the report below –
Wikipedia has also published 2026 ‘FIFA World Cup squads’ mentioning few countries’ squads, while portugal is yet to announce as seen below:
Next, we searched whether Portugal plans on dropping Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto as mentioned in the claim. A prediction report by Talk Sport features Pedro Neto in the lineup while calling Bruno Fernandes as the “star player.” Similarly, another prediction report by Goal also states that Neto is among the “solid options” while Fernandes will be key in “dictating the tempo of the game and creating chances from the middle of the park.” From the likes of prediction reports, it is highly unlikely that Portugal will drop these players in their FIFA World Cup 2026 squad.
Lastly, we downloaded the image attached in the claim and ran it through Hive Moderation’s AI detector to check its authenticity. The results proved that the image is generated using AI and there is no such official image of Portugal’s squad which has been released. View a screenshot of the results below –
Thus, the claim is false.
