Spain

Spain at the World Cup 2026

Spain arrive at the 2026 World Cup as reigning European champions and consensus joint-favourites with France for the tournament outright. La Roja won Euro 2024 in Germany with a 2-1 final win over England in Berlin — the second European Championship title of Spain's history, after their 1964/2008/2012 sequence. Luis de la Fuente, the 64-year-old coach who took over after the 2022 World Cup, has built a side that combines possession-football continuity with genuine match-winners at the top.

Lamine Yamal — the 18-year-old Barcelona forward — is the youngest player at the entire tournament, and one of the players the bookmakers have priced as a serious Golden Boot candidate. He scored at Euro 2024 (including against France in the semi-final) at age 16, won the Golden Boy award in October 2024, and signed a new long-term Barcelona contract in February 2026. He is the most marketable individual player in international football right now.

Rodri — the 28-year-old Manchester City midfielder and 2024 Ballon d'Or winner — returns from the ACL injury that ruled him out of much of the 2024-25 season. He started in Spain's March 2026 friendlies (1-0 over Portugal in Madrid, 2-0 over Germany in Munich) and is fully fit for the tournament. His role as the deepest midfielder remains the structural anchor of Spain's possession game.

Spain's group H opening match is against Cape Verde — the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for a World Cup. Their other group fixtures are against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay (Bielsa's misfiring side). The group is winnable but the second-round opponent could be a much tougher proposition.

Group H fixtures

All three group-stage matches for Spain at World Cup 2026 with current odds from our partner books.

Squad & predicted XI

Unai Simón · Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella · Rodri, Pedri, Gavi · Lamine Yamal, Morata (c), Nico Williams

Formation: 4-3-3 · Coach: Luis de la Fuente

How Spain qualified for World Cup 2026

Spain qualified for the 2026 World Cup via the standard UEFA qualifying process, winning UEFA Group A with seven wins from eight matches (one draw, zero losses). Notable performances included a 4-0 home win over Switzerland in Madrid, a 3-1 win over Denmark in Copenhagen, and the only draw of the campaign — 1-1 against Serbia in Belgrade.

Before qualifying began, Spain's path to the tournament was effectively secured by their Euro 2024 trophy and subsequent automatic Nations League qualification berth. They won UEFA Nations League Group A4 ahead of Denmark, Serbia and Switzerland during the 2024-25 cycle, with a 4-0 win over Serbia and 2-0 over Denmark.

In March 2026 friendlies, Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in Madrid (Pedri assisting Morata) and Germany 2-0 in Munich (Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams scored). They lost a closed-doors training match to Argentina 2-1 in Miami in April — the only competitive loss in the preparation cycle. The momentum trajectory is strong.

World Cup history

Spain have won the World Cup once — South Africa 2010, beating the Netherlands 1-0 in extra time of the final with an Andrés Iniesta winner in the 116th minute. That tournament was the apex of the most successful generation in Spanish football history (Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012 — three consecutive major tournament wins, the only side ever to achieve that).

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