2026 FIFA World Cup: Semi-Finals – France vs Spain

European giants, France and Spain meet in the opening semi-final with a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final at stake. 

Victory would see France qualify for a fifth World Cup Final, whilst Spain are chasing just their second appearance in the final,

 

Team News

Manu Kone is set to be available for France despite having suffered a minor knee injury and fatigue during their 2-0 Quarter-Final victory over Morocco.

Spain have no fresh injury or suspension concerns to report after their 2-1 Quarter-Final win over Belgium.

 

When is Kick-Off?

France face Spain at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, USA, on Tuesday 14 July at 2pm CDT (8pm BST), live on ITV1 and ITVX in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• France won 3-1 in their only previous meeting against Spain at World Cup Finals, which came at the Round of 16 stage of the 2006 edition as Les Bleus went on to finish runners-up in that tournament.
• Spain are playing as the designated away team against France in the World Cup Finals for the first time – having been the designated home team in their clash in 2006.
• 19 of France’s 47 shots on target this tournament were produced by Kylian Mbappe.
• Spain have scored 11 goals and conceded just one goal in six matches at this tournament (W5, D1).
• France have advanced from four of seven previous semi-final appearances at the World Cup (W4, L3).
• Spain have won their only previous World Cup semi-final appearance (W1), in which they beat Germany 1-0 en-route to the title in 2010.

 

Prediction

Patience and clinical finishing certainly proved crucial for France in their win over Morocco because they were dominant throughout, yet this now their biggest test because they will need to be much sharper and tighter defensively than they were when met at this stage in Euro 2024.

Spain though rode their luck at times against Belgium with clinical punishments of mistakes proving the difference for them, but they have to be much better in their end product because France won’t give away those type of errors too often at the back.

I honestly expect this to be a very tight game because there isn’t much to separate them because France have the better attack but Spain’s defence is the slightly more resilient, so I honestly can see this going the distance with the French just winning out on penalties.

Prediction: France 1-1 Spain (France win on penalties)

Result: France 0-2 Spain