Portugal vs Spain FIFA World Cup 2026 Preview: Everything you need to know

World Cup - Final Stage

Dallas Stadium

Portugal vs Spain will kick off on 6 Jul 2026 at 15:00 EST and 20:00 GMT.

Iberian neighbours square off in the World Cup Round of 16

As many might have predicted, near neighbours Portugal and Spain square off for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals. Who will get the better of this fiery rivalry?

How Portugal and Spain got here

Portugal has blown hot and cold so far. Unbeaten and having only conceded twice in four outings, they've still looked to lack fluency in a 1-1 draw with DR Congo and a 0-0 stalemate with Colombia. They needed a 94th-minute winner from AC Milan's new record signing Goncalo Ramos to break Croatian hearts, and there was the extra drama of a disallowed Croatia goal after VAR intervention in the very last second of a match which contained four disallowed goals in total.

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Luis De La Fuente's Spain side is living up to the billing as one of the pre-tournament favourites. They're yet to concede, with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia and a 1-0 success against Uruguay. A 0-0 draw against minnows Cabo Verde was a surprise, but also a sign of other shocks to come at this fascinating showpiece. Amazingly, none of the winners from 2006, 2010 and 2014 (Italy, Spain and Germany) have won a knockout match since winning the World Cup. La Roja will be desperate to buck this trend. Spain showed their class in a routine 3-0 win over Austria in the first knockout round.

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Oyarzabal proves his big-game mettle

Mikel Oyarzabal isn't the most glamorous household name in the Spain squad, but the Athletic Bilbao stalwart again proved his big-match temperament with a brace against Austria.

Barcelona's teenage superstar Lamine Yamal's minutes have been managed carefully. He played just 19 minutes against Cape Verde, then 45 minutes against Saudi Arabia, where he also scored, and 76 minutes against Uruguay. The Barcelona superstar started and managed 85 minutes against the Austrians, a great sign for coach De La Fuente.

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Ronaldo or Ramos, or both?

Goncalo Ramos' goal-scoring heroics against Croatia will give coach Roberto Martinez plenty to ponder when he picks his side to face Spain. It's not unthinkable to imagine a situation where Cristiano Ronaldo is dropped, after all that happened in 2022, and Ramos scored a hat-trick as his replacement in a 6-1 win over Switzerland. However, Ronaldo's penalty against Croatia and performance against Uzbekistan point to him starting here. Ramos is a pretty good option to have coming off the bench ahead of a supremely gifted midfield unit consisting of PSG pair Joao Neves and Vitinha.

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Likely Portugal XI

Spain (4-3-3)

Costa; Cancelo, Dias, Veiga, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha; Neto, Fernandes, Leão; Ronaldo.

Likely Spain XI

Spain (4-3-3)

Simón; Porro, Cubarsí, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Pedri, Fabián Ruiz; Yamal, Oyarzabal, Baena.

Portugal vs Spain key stats

• Real Sociedad stalwart Mikel Oyarzabal has directly contributed to five of Spain’s eight goals at this tournament (G4, A1) and has contributed to 24 goals in his last 16 starts.
• Six of Portugal’s eight matches this year stood level at half-time.
• Spain kept a clean sheet in nine of their last ten competitive games.

Portugal 26-man squad

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolves), Rui Silva (Sporting), Ricardo Velho (Genclerbirligi).

Defenders: Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Nelson Semedo (Fenerbahce), Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Nuno Mendes (Paris St-Germain), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting), Renato Veiga (Villarreal), Tomas Araujo (Benfica).

Midfielders: Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), Samu Costa (Mallorca), Joao Neves (Paris St-Germain), Vitinha (Paris St-Germain), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City).

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr), Joao Felix (Al-Nassr), Francisco Trincao (Sporting), Francisco Conceicao (Juventus), Pedro Neto (Chelsea), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Goncalo Guedes (Real Sociedad), Goncalo Ramos (Paris St-Germain).

Spain 26-man squad

Goalkeepers: Unai Simón (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garcia (Barcelona).

Defenders: Marcos Llorente (Atlético Madrid), Marc Pubill (Atlético Madrid), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Eric García (Barcelona), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen).

Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Pedri (Barcelona), Gavi (Barcelona), Fabian Ruiz (Paris St-Germain), Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid).

Forwards: Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), Víctor Muñoz (Osasuna), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo).

Team news & squads

Portugal vs Spain Probable lineups

4-2-3-1

Portugal

POR

Formation

Spain

ESP

4-2-3-1

1D. Costa3R. Dias25N. Mendes13R. Veiga20J. Cancelo8B. Fernandes18P. Neto23Vitinha15J. Neves17R. Leao7C. Ronaldo23U. Simon12P. Porro24M. Cucurella14A. Laporte22P. Cubarsi19L. Yamal20Pedri15A. Baena10D. Olmo16Rodri21M. Oyarzabal

Spain

ESP

4-2-3-1

PORESP

Starting XI

• 1

  D. Costa
  23

  U. Simon
• 3

  R. Dias
  12

  P. Porro
• 25

  N. Mendes
  24

  M. Cucurella
• 13

  R. Veiga
  14

  A. Laporte
• 20

  J. Cancelo
  22

  P. Cubarsi
• 8

  B. Fernandes
  19

  L. Yamal
• 18

  P. Neto
  20

  Pedri
• 23

  Vitinha
  15

  A. Baena
• 15

  J. Neves
  10

  D. Olmo
• 17

  R. Leao
  16

  Rodri
• 7

  C. Ronaldo
  21

  M. Oyarzabal

Manager

• R. Martinez

• L. de la Fuente

Roberto Martinez has not confirmed a probable lineup for Portugal, and no injuries or suspensions are listed in the current squad data. Updates are expected closer to kick-off.

Luis de la Fuente is similarly yet to name his projected XI for Spain. No injuries or suspensions are confirmed at this stage, though Nico Williams and Yeremy Pino were both ruled out of Spain's previous match against Austria with a groin issue and shoulder injury respectively. Their availability for this fixture has not been confirmed. Further team news will be added as it becomes available.

Form

POR - Form

AllHome

W2-1

D1-1

W5-0

D0-0

W2-1

Goal Scored (Conceded)

10/3

Games over 2.5 goals

3/5

Both teams scored

3/5

ESP - Form

AllAway

W1-3

D0-0

W4-0

W0-1

W3-0

Goal Scored (Conceded)

11/1

Games over 2.5 goals

3/5

Both teams scored

1/5

Head-to-Head Record

POR

Last 5 matches

ESP

1

Win

3

Draws

1

Win

• Portugal

  2

  -

  2

  Spain

• Portugal

  0

  -

  1

  Spain

• Spain

  1

  -

  1

  Portugal

• Spain

  0

  -

  0

  Portugal

• Portugal

  0

  -

  0

  Spain

1

Goals scored

2

Games over 2.5 goals

0/5

Both teams scored

1/5

The most recent meeting between Portugal and Spain ended 2-2, a UEFA Nations League A draw played on June 8, 2025. Before that, Spain won 1-0 in Lisbon in September 2022, with the sides also drawing 1-1 in Seville in June 2022. Across the last five meetings, neither side has dominated, with one win each for Portugal and Spain, two draws, and one further draw rounding out the record. Both sides have shown they can be difficult to separate at this level.

Standings

Spain finished top of Group H, while Portugal claimed second place in Group K to advance to the Round of 16.