Preview: Spain vs Iraq - prediction, team news, lineups

Spain’s 2026 World Cup preparations begin on Thursday night when they welcome Iraq to the Estadio Municipal de Riazor in A Coruna for a warm-up fixture.

While La Roja are ranked second in the world by FIFA, only behind France, the Lions of Mesopotamia are down in 57th place in the current standings.

Match preview

Spain head into this summer’s World Cup as one of the bookmakers’ favourites to lift the iconic golden trophy, with Luis de la Fuente’s side seeking to win their second global title since 2010.

After that memorable maiden triumph in South Africa, Spain have suffered disappointing early exits at the last three World Cups, crashing out in the 2014 group stage before back-to-back last-16 eliminations in 2018 and 2022.

However, La Roja are the reigning European champions after winning Euro 2024, while they enjoyed an unbeaten 2026 World Cup qualification campaign (W5 D1), finishing top of their group ahead of Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria.

In fact, Spain have lost only one of their last 28 international matches across all tournaments over the last 27 months (W22 D5), and that was on penalties against Portugal in the 2025 UEFA Nations League final last year.

Before jetting off to Mexico for their final warm-up fixture against Peru next Tuesday, Spain will prepare for one final game in front of their home supporters and will endeavour to extend their impressive unbeaten home run to 17 game. They were held to a 0-0 draw by Egypt in their most recent home match in March, though.

Iraq are gearing up for just their second-ever appearance at the Word Cup and their first since Mexico 1986 when they lost all three games in the group stage.

The Lions of Mesopotamia had to navigate through three different AFC qualification groups before beating Bolivia 2-1 in an inter-confederation playoff in April to secure their spot in North America.

Since the appointment of Australian coach Graham Arnold, Iraq have won nine of their last 14 international matches (D2 L3); they ended 2025 with back-to-back defeats against Algeria and Jordan in the Arab Cup, but responded with wins over Bolivia and Andorra, most recently beating the latter 1-0 in a friendly last month.

Iraq have two warm-up fixtures against Spain and Venezuela over the next seven days before they prepare for a daunting Group I campaign against the world’s highest-ranked nation France, African giants Senegal and Erling Haaland’s Norway, facing the latter in their opening game on June 16.

Even though Thursday’s contest is merely a friendly, Iraq will head into it as underdogs against a Spain side who prevailed in the only previous head-to-head battle between these two nations in the 2009 Confederations Cup, winning 1-0 courtesy of a second-half strike from David Villa.

Spain form (all competitions):

Iraq form (all competitions):

Team News

Spain and Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal is still nursing a hamstring issue and is unlikely to be involved in Thursday’s friendly. The same can be said for Nico Williams and Mikel Merino who have experienced spells out with respective groin and foot injuries.

David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Fabian Ruiz were all involved in last weekend’s Champions League final and De La Fuente may decide to rest the trio, with Unai Simon starting between the sticks at the expense of the former.

Atletico Madrid defender Marc Pubill is the only uncapped player in Spain’s squad and could make his international debut against Iraq. The 22-year-old is a contender to start at centre-back next to Pau Cubarsi, Eric Garcia or Aymeric Laporte.

La Roja captain Rodri could also start, though he is not expected to play the full 90 minutes, while Barca quartet Gavi, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres are also available for selection.

As for Iraq, captain and goalkeeper Jalal Hassan is in line to earn his 101st international cap and could be protected by a back four of Hussein Ali, Zaid Tahseen, Akam Hashim and Merchas Doski.

Zidane Iqbal, who was once on the books at Manchester United and now plies his trade with Utrecht, will compete with Amir Al-Ammari, Aimar Sher and Kevin Yakob for a start in centre-midfield.

Striker Aymen Hussein has scored 33 goals in 93 international appearances and could be supported in attack by Ipswich Town’s Ali Al-Hamadi.

Spain possible starting lineup:

Simon; Porro, Pubill, Cubarsi, Cucurella; Gavi, Rodri, Pedri; Pino, Oyarzabal, Torres

Iraq possible starting lineup:

Hassan; H. Ali, Tahseen, Hashim, Doski; Amyn, Al-Ammari, Sher, Bayesh; Al-Hamadi, Hussein

We say: Spain 3-0 Iraq

Even if Spain do not field their strongest starting lineup, they boast impressive strength in depth and should have enough quality to beat a nation ranked more than 50 places below them in the world.

Iraq only just edged past European minnows Andorra last month, while La Roja have enjoyed a strong run of form dating back to 2024. With that in mind, expect De la Fuente’s troops to begin their World Cup preparations on a positive note.