The 22-year-old was selected in Graham Arnold's 26 man Socceroos squad tasked with attempting to topple France, Tunisia and Denmark and progress to the round of 16 in Qatar.

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King was on standby by his phone in Denmark [where he plays his club football] last week around the time the squad was to be announced. After initial doubts, King was given the best news possible in the life of a professional footballer.

"I received a message from the manager informing me of the news," King told the Mercury.

"All I saw from the notification was 'Hi Joel'. Straight away I thought it was bad news because it didn't begin with congratulations. So I put my phone down to gather myself for a second, I then built up enough courage to read the message and to my surprise it was the best news ever.

"[The] first thing I did after I got the message was call home to wake up the folks at 5am or so in the morning. They were stoked, Mum was in tears," he said.

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It has been a sensational rise to the top for King. The former Shellharbour junior made his A-League debut in 2019 for Sydney FC and won his first championship in the 2019-20 season. He was named as the young footballer of the year for the 2020-21 season.

In the middle of last year King was named in the Olyroos squad for the Tokyo Olympics, where he nabbed an assist in the side's 2-0 win against Argentina. Earlier this year, he signed with Danish club Odense Boldklub from the 'Sky Blues'.

King said that it was simply sensational what he had achieved in his short career so far.

"It's crazy to think I'm going to a World Cup this early in my career," he said.

"I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am at the moment so I won't be taking this experience for granted."

Out of the 26 players selected for the World Cup, nine players were involved in the U-23 that competed in Tokyo, a sign of Arnold trusting younger players on the biggest stage.

King said this was a great move by the Socceroos coach.

"It's very positive, it's what the boss wanted to achieve and that's why he took the job as the Olyroos coach." he said.

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"He knows us very well now and clearly has plenty of faith and trust in us to perform for him."

King will be in a battle for a starting spot against long-time Socceroos left-back Aziz Behich.

Kiama-born Kye Rowles - who plays his club football at Hearts in Scotland - was also selected in the squad headed for Qatar. He will be looking to continue his top form like he showed in qualifying against the UAE and Peru.

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