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Spain and France will square off in one of the most anticipated matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 when they meet in the first semifinal at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, July 14. With a place in Sunday’s final against either England or Argentina on the line, the clash brings together two European football powerhouses boasting world-class talent, formidable defenses and rich tournament pedigree.<\/p>
Spain, ranked second in the FIFA rankings and reigning European champions, reached the semifinals after edging Belgium 2-1 in a closely fought quarterfinal. Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz opened the scoring before Charles De Ketelaere equalised for Belgium. Super-sub Mikel Merino then struck the winner late in the game to send La Roja into the last four.<\/p>
France, ranked third in the world, secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Morocco in the quarterfinals. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 recovered from an earlier penalty miss to score his eighth goal of the tournament, while Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 added the second as Les Bleus continued their impressive march toward a third successive World Cup final.<\/p>
MUST READ:\u00a0FIFA World Cup scores interest in India, but can ZEE5 win the subscription game?<\/strong><\/p> Spain vs France head-to-head record<\/strong><\/p> The two nations have met 38 times across all competitions. Spain hold the edge overall, although France have enjoyed success in some of the biggest knockout matches.<\/p> Spain vs France at the FIFA World Cup<\/strong><\/p> Tuesday’s encounter will be only the second World Cup meeting between the sides. Their previous clash came in the Round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.<\/p> Spain took an early lead through David Villa’s penalty before France mounted a comeback. Franck Rib\u00e9ry equalised after rounding goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Patrick Vieira headed France in front, and Zinedine Zidane sealed a memorable 3-1 victory in stoppage time.<\/p> Last five meetings<\/strong><\/p> The most recent meeting was a nine-goal thriller in the 2025 UEFA Nations League semifinal. Spain raced into a 5-1 lead before France staged a remarkable comeback, eventually falling just short in a 5-4 defeat.<\/p> MUST READ:\u00a0He’s 39, it’s his 6th World Cup, and he has scored more men’s World Cup goals than anyone in history \u2014 meet Messi 2026<\/strong><\/p> Predicted lineups<\/strong><\/p> *Subject to fitness after recovering from a muscle injury.<\/p> Key players to watch<\/strong><\/p> Mbapp\u00e9 enters the semifinal in sensational form with eight goals, drawing level with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. For Spain, teenage sensation Lamine Yamal has continued to impress with his creativity, while Rodri and Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz have controlled the midfield throughout the tournament.<\/p> MUST READ:\u00a0From $2,950 to $1,200: Why FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final tickets suddenly became affordable<\/strong><\/p> Defensively, there is little to separate the two sides. Spain have conceded just one goal in six matches, while France have let in only two and have recorded clean sheets in each of their three knockout fixtures.<\/p> With attacking stars on both sides and two of the tournament’s best defensive units going head-to-head, the semifinal promises to be a tactical and technical battle. Spain will be aiming to continue their recent dominance over France, while Didier Deschamps’ side will look to draw on their experience of reaching the last two World Cup finals as they seek another shot at football’s biggest prize.<\/p> <\/div> Spain vs France, Spain vs France FIFA World Cup 2026, FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal, Spain France head-to-head record, Spain vs France predicted lineup, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Lamine Yamal, Spain vs France live, FIFA World Cup 2026 schedule, Spain France semifinal preview#Spain #France #FIFA #World #Cup #semifinal #Headtohead #record #predicted #lineups #key #players1784040121<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spain and France will square off in one of the most anticipated matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 when they meet in the first semifinal at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, July 14. With a place in Sunday’s final against either England or Argentina on the line, the clash brings together two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[5464,35279,46177,46172,10535,46180,932,46175,43989,46182,5678,46181,2012,46179,1576,46173,46178,46170,46171,46176,46174,2557],"class_list":["post-11606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-cup","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-schedule","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-semifinal","tag-france","tag-headtohead","tag-key","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-lineups","tag-players","tag-predicted","tag-record","tag-semifinal","tag-spain","tag-spain-france-head-to-head-record","tag-spain-france-semifinal-preview","tag-spain-vs-france","tag-spain-vs-france-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-spain-vs-france-live","tag-spain-vs-france-predicted-lineup","tag-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Record<\/th> Spain<\/th> France<\/th> <\/tr> <\/thead> Matches played<\/td> 38<\/td> 38<\/td> <\/tr> Wins<\/td> 18<\/td> 13<\/td> <\/tr> Draws<\/td> 7<\/td> 7<\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table>
Date<\/th> Competition<\/th> Result<\/th> <\/tr> <\/thead> June 5, 2025<\/td> UEFA Nations League SF<\/td> Spain 5-4 France<\/td> <\/tr> July 9, 2024<\/td> UEFA Euro SF<\/td> Spain 2-1 France<\/td> <\/tr> Oct. 10, 2021<\/td> UEFA Nations League Final<\/td> France 2-1 Spain<\/td> <\/tr> March 26, 2013<\/td> FIFA World Cup Qualifier<\/td> France 0-1 Spain<\/td> <\/tr> Oct. 16, 2012<\/td> FIFA World Cup Qualifier<\/td> Spain 1-1 France<\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table>
Spain (4-3-3)<\/th> France (4-2-3-1)<\/th> <\/tr> <\/thead> Unai Sim\u00f3n<\/td> Mike Maignan<\/td> <\/tr> Dani Carvajal<\/td> Jules Kound\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> Robin Le Normand<\/td> Dayot Upamecano<\/td> <\/tr> Aymeric Laporte<\/td> William Saliba<\/td> <\/tr> Marc Cucurella<\/td> Lucas Digne<\/td> <\/tr> Rodri<\/td> Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni*<\/td> <\/tr> Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz<\/td> Adrien Rabiot<\/td> <\/tr> Pedri<\/td> Michael Olise<\/td> <\/tr> Lamine Yamal<\/td> Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> Nico Williams<\/td> D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> \u00c1lvaro Morata<\/td> Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table>
Spain<\/th> France<\/th> <\/tr> <\/thead> Lamine Yamal<\/td> Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> Rodri<\/td> Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9<\/td> <\/tr> Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz<\/td> William Saliba<\/td> <\/tr> Nico Williams<\/td> Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni<\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table>