2026 FIFA World Cup: Round of 32 – Spain vs Austria

Spain face an all-European encounter against Austria in the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Spain progressed into this round as Group H winners, whilst Austria finished second in Group J.

 

Team News

Yeremy Pino is ruled out for Spain after he suffered a shoulder injury during their 1-0 victory over Uruguay.

Nico Williams is a doubt and faces a late fitness test after he suffered an adductor injury during that match.

Victor Munoz is unlikely to feature as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, despite his partial return to first-team training.

Austria have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 3-3 draw against Algeria.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Spain face Austria at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, USA, on Thursday 2 July at 12pm PDT (8pm BST), live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• Spain lost 2-1 in their only previous World Cup Finals meeting against Austria in June 1978.
• Austria have avoided defeat in two of their three previous World Cup meetings against Spain across Qualifying and Finals stages (W1, D1, L1).
• Spain are yet to concede at this tournament with three clean sheets in their three group matches, during which they scored five goals in their last two games.
• Two of Austria’s six goals in the Group Stage were scored by Marko Arnautovic.

 

Prediction

As favourites coming into this tie, Spain’s own enemy at the minute would be themselves because they should realistically ease through this tie given their solid defence and clinical attack, even though they did have to battle a bit for their win over Uruguay.

Austria meanwhile are a strong team and will take hope from having won their only previous World Cup Finals meeting against Spain, but they have to be absolutely clinical because this a tough ask against a fierce Spanish team who have better quality and confidence.

Although it would be nice to see Austria bring some fight and test Spain a bit, I just can’t see the reigning European champions suffering a cupset here.

Prediction: Spain 2-0 Austria

Result: Spain 3-0 Austria