The 29-year-old had high hopes of making the team to face Belguim, Egypt and Iran in Group G when the tournament kicks off in the United States, Canada and Mexico in June.
De Jong recently made a return to the All Whites' squad for their March international friendlies.
He had swapped Stellenbosch for Pirates in January but had largely been used as a bit-part player by head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou.
The former Wanderers, Maccabi Hakoah, Eastern Suburbs, AmaZulu and Royal AM frontman made 11 appearances across all competitions, scoring one goal.
Captain Chris Wood headlines a strong All Whites squad unveiled by head coach Darren Bazeley.
Speaking after the announcement, Bazeley said he was happy with the quality and experience of his side.
He told the FIFA website: "We spent the last three years monitoring and tracking 50 players around the world and then arrived at the final process of selecting this squad, which is such a big moment.
“We left no stone unturned to make the right decisions to get the right balance for the squad, so there's been a lot of nice conversations in recent days but also some challenging ones with players that missed out.
“It's a really strong squad: talented, exciting, experienced and ready to go make New Zealand proud and create history for us at the World Cup.”
New Zealand's World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen, Michael Woud
Defenders: Tyler Bindon, Michael Boxall, Liberato Cacace, Francis de Vries, Callan Elliot, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker, Tommy Smith, Finn Surman
Midfielders: Lachlan Bayliss, Joe Bell, Matt Garbett, Eli Just, Callum McCowatt, Ben Old, Alex Rufer, Marko Stamenic, Sarpreet Singh, Ryan Thomas
Forwards: Kosta Barbarouses, Jesse Randall, Ben Waine, Chris Wood
