Who: Spain vs. Bulgaria
What: UEFA qualifiers for 2026 FIFA World Cup
Where: Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria
When: Thursday, August 4, at 9:45pm (18:45 GMT)
Following is how we’ll prepare for our live text commentary stream on Al Jazeera Sport starting at 6:45 p.m. (15:45 GMT).
The run-in between the nations intensifies significantly ahead of the world event, with European football’s focus shifting to qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup the following week.
A six-game, 11-week sprint will now begin on Thursday to advance to the tournament being played in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Bulgaria hosts Bulgaria and Spain are hosting this stage, but Al Jazeera Sport examines why.
Why haven’t nations like Spain, Germany, Portugal, and France yet played any World Cup qualifiers?
Top-tier teams from the region who played a thrilling series of Nations League games in March and June are among those launching their qualifying programs.
Teams that have advanced to those latter stages of the competition have only recently joined the World Cup qualifiers.
Portugal won the 2025 final tiebreaker 5-3 on penalties against Spain in June.
Portugal defeated Germany in the semifinal match, while Spain triumphed over France. The rest of the qualifiers for the later stages of that competition are currently only qualifying for the World Cup.
Who else belongs to the group in Spain and Bulgaria?
Georgia and Turkiye win Group E of the UEFA World Cup qualifiers.
What format will Spain and the other teams currently participating in the World Cup qualifiers follow?
Six groups of four are just starting their World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Six additional groups of five teams have already won four qualifying games so far.
The top teams in each of the groups advance to the World Cup in the summer, while the second-placed teams must also make playoffs to advance.
Three teams are eliminated from the five-team groups that are currently being developed, while two teams are eliminated from the reduced four-team groups.
What did playing in the Nations League qualify for for the World Cup?
Four top-placed Nations League teams that don’t automatically qualify at this stage will join the 12 runners-up from the current groups in the scheduled playoffs in March.
In the event that those sides encounter issues in the current groups, the goal is to give them a better chance of qualifying.
Surprisingly, San Marino, the 210th and final of the men’s national teams ranked by FIFA, might be among those extra teams. They currently have four defeats from their four games in Group H’s qualifiers, but they won the last Nations League title in Group D.
How will the World Cup playoffs for 2026 operate?
Four knockout brackets, each four teams, will be assigned to each of the 16 European playoff teams.
The four remaining World Cup spots are decided by March 26 and March 31 in single-game semifinal and finals.
UEFA’s smallest qualifying groups since 1989
The qualifying formula has been altered by the additions of FIFA’s World Cup entries and UEFA’s expansion of UEFA’s Nations League knockout stage.
Since the continent’s first World Cup qualifying group of just four teams since November 1989, which came just days after the fall and rebirth of the continent, was completed, only four teams remain.
Countries with high ranking teams that used to play in groups of five or six for 15 months now have a condensed program that plays two games in each of three straight months.
A key player for the entire qualifying program could be removed due to an injury. Jamal Musiala, who played for Bayern Munich at the Club World Cup in July with a serious leg injury, will not be available in Germany.
Next year, the format will change. The FIFA schedule for men’s national teams games will combine the two separate September and October breaks into a four-game block over back-to-back weekends following the 2026 World Cup.
dominant in the #FIFAWorldCup qualifying process
Is the hardest group in Spain?
After defeating the Netherlands in the Nations League quarterfinal in March, European champion Spain won two consecutive victories at Euro 2024, joining Turkiye and Georgia in a four-team group.
In the draw last December, Georgia’s star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was the most dangerous team among the third-seeded options. Georgia plays in Spain on October 11 and hosts Turkiye on Thursday.
The four-team Swiss, Sweden, Slovenia, and Kosovo team is probably the hardest to predict.
Switzerland must now face some of Europe’s most expensive forwards, including Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres, and Anthony Elanga, who were all signed for more than $300m this season by Liverpool, Arsenal, and Newcastle, despite their impressive quarterfinal place in Euro 2024.
Bulgaria and Spain square off in a head-to-head match
Despite the fact that the event dates back to 1933, this is only their sixth meeting.
In the group stage of Euro 96 in England, Spain has won four of the matches, with one draw being the outcome.
Hristo Stoichkov, a renowned Bulgarian forward, opened the scoring from the penalty spot, but Alfonso Perez equalized for Spain.
In a friendly in May 1933, Spain won 13-0 at home.
What transpired during the last Bulgarian game against Spain?
The countries have met for the first time in more than 20 years, with Spain winning the previous friendly match with a score of 1-0 in 2002.
Their most recent competitive encounter was the France World Cup 1998, which Spain won 6-1.
News from the Bulgarian team
With Levski Sofia’s Svetoslav Vutsov and Aberdeen’s Dimitar Mitov competing for the gloves, the biggest question for Bulgaria is who should start in goal.
To counteract Spain’s attacking threat, the home side will use a five-man defense.
news from the Spain team
Due to late injuries, Yeremy Pino, Fabian Ruiz of Paris Saint-Germain, and Gavi of Barcelona do not all miss out.
Aleix Garcia and Jorge de Frutos, both from Rayo Vallecano, have been named in place of them.
Bulgaria had a starting lineup in mind.
Mitov, Dimitrov, Petkov, Nedyalkov, Nurnberger, Despodov, Shopov, Gruev, Milanov, and others.
Spain guessed the starting lineup.
Source: Aljazeera
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