WHO: Bulgaria vs Spain
Contents: UEFA Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Location: Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria
When: Thursday, August 4th, 9:45pm (18:45 GMT)
How to Follow: All buildups are available to Al Jazeera Sport from 6:45pm (15:45 GMT) prior to the live text commentary stream.
European football is focusing on competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup next week, with national run-ins dramatically intensifying global events.
Qualifying on the continent will begin a six-game, 11-week sprint starting Thursday, and advance to tournaments in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Al Jazeera Sport will see why this is the opening game for this stage in Bulgaria and 2010 Champion Spain.
Why aren’t teams from Spain, Germany, Portugal and France still playing World Cup qualifiers?
Among those starting their qualifying program are top-class teams who played thrilling Nations League matches in March and June.
Since the tournament was introduced in Europe, teams that have advanced to the later stages of that competition will only participate in the World Cup qualifiers at later stages.
Portugal crowned the champions as they defeated Spain 5-3 in a penalty in the 2025 final in June.
Spain overcame France in the semi-finals, while Portugal defeated Germany. The remaining qualifying rounds from the second half of that tournament are currently taking part in the World Cup qualifying round.
Who else is there in the Spanish and Bulgarian groups?
Complete Group E of Turkiye and Georgia UEFA World Cup Qualifiers.
What format will the teams participate in Spain and World Cup qualifying?
There are currently four groups that are launching the World Cup Qualifying Campaign.
There are six more groups of five teams who have already completed four qualifying matches at this stage.
The top teams in each group will qualify directly for the World Cup next summer, with the second-placed team entering the playoffs to advance.
Two teams will be eliminated from the reduced four team group, and three teams will be eliminated from the already five team group.
What were the benefits of playing in the Nations League during the World Cup qualifying round?
The 12 runner-ups from the current group will take part in the playoffs scheduled for March by the four best aspects of the Nations League group that are not automatically qualified from this stage.
The goal is to give you a bonus chance for qualifying if you run into trouble with your current group.
These additional teams ranked San Marino, 210th San Marino and the final men’s team in FIFA. They are currently the bottom of Group H of Qualifiers with four losses from four games, but finished top of Group 1 in League D of the final Nations League campaign.
How will the 2026 World Cup Playoffs work?
The 16 European playoff teams will be seeded into four knockout brackets of four teams each.
They will hold the single game semi-finals and finals on March 26th and 31st, with four World Cup slots remaining.
The smallest qualifying group in UEFA since 1989
Additional World Cup entries, where FIFA and Nations League knockout stages were expanded by UEFA, changed the qualifying formula.
Europe has just four teams’ first World Cup qualifying group, after it ended a few days after the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and recreated the continent.
The high-ranking country, which once had to play in groups of five or six teams for 15 months, has a condensed program that plays two games for the third consecutive month.
Injuries may remove key players throughout the qualifying program. Germany does not have Jamal Muciella, a serious foot injury to play for Bayern Munich at the Club World Cup in July.
The format will be changed again next year. After the 2026 World Cup, the FIFA schedule for the men’s national team game will be split into four game blocks over consecutive weekends in September and October.
Dominant in the qualifying round 📊#fifaworldcup
– FIFA World Cup (@fifaworldcup) September 1, 2025
Is Spain the toughest group?
Spain’s European champions’ reward for beating the Netherlands in the international league quarterfinals in March was to land in a group of four teams with Torquier and Georgia, who had two breakout successes in the Euro 2024.
Georgia, along with starwinger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, was the most dangerous team of options to be seeded third in the draw last December. Georgia will be holding Torquier on Thursday and will play in Spain on October 11th.
The most difficult group when it comes to forecasting is probably a group of four teams: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia and Kosovo.
Switzerland was an impressive quarterfinalist for the Euro 2024, but now they have to face Slovenian Benjamin Sesco at Arsenal and Europe’s most expensive forward, the Swedish offensive line of Alexander Isaac, Victor Guilyoker and Anthony Elanga.
From the head – Bulgaria vs Spain
This is the sixth meeting with Europeans despite the fixture dating back to 1933.
Spain won four encounters, with the other match being a 1-1 draw in the group stage of the UK’s Euro 96.
Legendary Bulgarian forward Fristo Stoichikov gave his team a lead from the penalty spot, but Alfonso Perez levelled to Spain.
The first meeting was a friendly, 13-0 home victory for Spain in May 1933.
What happened when Bulgaria last played Spain?
This was the first meeting with the country in over 20 years, with Spain winning 2002’s friendly and final encounter 1-0.
Their final competition meeting was the France ’98 World Cup, with Spain winning 6-1.
Bulgarian Team News
Bulgaria’s biggest challenge is who score the goal as Aberdeen’s Dimitar Mitov and Lebsky Sofia’s Svetoslav Votzv compete for gloves.
The home side is set to deploy five defenses to deny Spain’s offensive threat.
Spanish team news
Gavi of Barcelona, Fabien Lewis of Paris Saint-Germain and Yeremy Pino of Crystal Palace all missed the injury late.
Bayer Leverkusen midfielders Alex Garcia and Reio Valecano forward Jorge de Furtos have been called to the team as alternatives.
Bulgaria predicted the starting lineup
Mitov; Minkov, Dimitrov, Petkov, Nedyalkov, Nurnberger; Despodov, Shophov, Gruev, Milanov;
Spain predicted its starting lineup
Simon; Polo, Le Normande, Huyssen, Kukurera; Pedri, Zubimendi, Olmo; Yamal, Williams, Oyarzabal
