Spain’s Routes to the World Cup Final

What is Spain’s route to the World Cup final? Discover who their potential opponents are now they've topped their group.

Champions of the Euros in 2024, Spain are heading into the summer as one of the heavy favourites to become the 2026 World Cup winner. But let’s take a look at what Spain’s route to the World Cup final will be.

Take a look at the markets for their next game: Spain vs Belgium.

Spain will be hungry to win their second international tournament in a row, fuelled by the goal of repeating the success they had in the early 2010s when they won the World Cup and Euros back-to-back.

In this blog, we discuss Spain’s possible World Cup routes and the expected dates for each of their potential matches.

And as the tournament progresses, why not follow all the Spain games as they happen with the latest World Cup betting odds.

Spain’s chances of progressing through each round

Before we dive into Spain’s route to the World Cup final, let’s take a look at what chance they’re given of reaching each round (at the minimum).

Spain’s route to the final now they’ve won their group

With Spain finishing first in Group H, here is their route to the World Cup final:

Round of 32

July 2nd vs Austria

Spain kicked off their route to the final by playing Austria in the RO32, after winning their group. Unsurprisingly, they progressed with ease.

Round of 16

July 6th vs Portugal

The round of 16 put Spain up against Portugal. The Spaniards didn’t expect this clash so soon, but with Cristiano and co struggling to top their group, a last 16 Iberian match-up ensued. The deadlock was finally broken in the dying minutes, as Spain ran out 1-0 winners.

Quarter-final

July 10th vs Belgium

Now here is where things start to get much more challenging as Spain’s next opponents look like they’ll be Belgium.

Semi-final

July 14th vs France

The semi-finals look like they will then put La Roja up against the 2018 winners and 2022 runners-up France (for an overview of how the French might get here, explore France’s possible routes to the World Cup final!).

There has only been one meeting between the two sides at a previous World Cup, which came in 2006. Spain unfortunately were bettered on this occasion, with Franck Ribery, Patrick Vieira, and Zinedine Zidane all contributing to a 3-1 win for Les Bleus. If Spain do end up meeting France again, they’ll be hoping to avenge their defeat from all those years ago.

If France are unable to reach this stage, the Netherlands could set up a repeat fixture of the 2010 World Cup final in which La Roja became victorious.

World Cup final

July 19th vs Argentina

Now onto the biggest event of the entire tournament – the final. Spain have run it back to 2010 and are hoping to win back-to-back international trophies. They’ve fought hard, and beaten all their tough opposition along the way – now who might they play in the final?

In order for Spain to become two-time World Cup champions, they’re most likely going to have to face Argentina. The 2026 World Cup represents a chance for them to place their names up alongside that of the 2010 Spain team that won the World Cup and Euros back-to-back as well, but Messi and co will be equally hungry – themselves gunning for back-to-back World Cup titles.

Curious to see how La Albiceleste might reach this stage? Explore Argentina’s possible route to the World Cup final.

If Argentina aren’t able to reach the final, Spain may come up against England or Brazil.

Who did Spain play in the group phase?

With Spain coming off the back of their Euros success, they expected to progress from their World Cup group with relative ease (vs Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay). Incidentally, it was Cabo Verde who proved the next-best challenger, finishing second behind Spain at Uruguay’s expense.