Socceroos veteran Mathew Leckie has undergone hip surgery, leaving his 2026 World Cup dream in tatters.
Dogged by repeated soft-tissue injuries, the luckless Melbourne City star has just six months to regain his fitness and convince Socceroos coach Tony Popovic.
Australia will kick off their World Cup campaign on June 14 in Vancouver, playing the winner of UEFA Play-Off C, which could be Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.
Leckie is not expected to return to A-League Men action until "the latter stages" of the 26-round regular season, which will end in April.
The 34-year-old was already sidelined with a hamstring injury and on Wednesday underwent a procedure designed to restore full hip movement.
Leckie has been limited to just four appearances this season and played just 28 A-League Men games across the previous two years.
He had played through a hamstring injury to deliver a man-of-the-match performance in last season's grand final win.
So dire has his luck with injuries been that Leckie has yet to play a Socceroos game under Popovic.
His last match for Australia was the June 2024 win over Palestine, when Graham Arnold was coach.
It also won't be the first time Leckie misses out on an international competition should he fall short of fitness before June, having been ruled out of 2023 Asian Cup with a right hamstring injury.
City coach Aurelio Vidmar had flagged last week Leckie's hamstring issues were related to hip and back issues.
"It's more evident that he's getting different referral pain around his back, around his hips, which are having a big contribution to why (when) he's at range at stretching, he's pulling his hamstring," Vidmar said.
Leckie is the latest to join a lengthy Socceroos injury list, though Popovic is hopeful to regain a number of stars before a FIFA-backed tournament on Australian soil in March.
Star defender Harry Souttar headlines Australia's injured with Jordy Bos, Alessandro Circati, Aziz Behich, Jacob Italiano and Jason Geria also on the list.
