There will be 13 kick-off times for the 2026 World Cup. The Al Jazeera Sport widget lets you see exactly when your team is playing in your local time.
WHO: Spain vs Saudi Arabia
what: 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage H match
where: Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium
when: Sunday, 12:00 PM (local time) (16:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll be bringing you all the details on Al Jazeera Sport from 1pm (GMT) ahead of our live text commentary stream.
Recommended Stories
List of 3 itemsend of list
Spain return to Atlanta on Sunday and will be hoping to bounce back from a shock goalless draw with debutants Cape Verde and respond with a much-improved display against Saudi Arabia.
The pre-tournament favorite is no longer bookmakers’ best choice to lift the title in North America, raising concerns about his lack of attacking edge.
The reigning European champions, who have one of the most exciting players in the world in Lamine Yamal, will face a solid Saudi Arabian side who held Uruguay to a 1-1 draw in their opening match.
Will Yamal play against Saudi Arabia?
The 2010 champions are in desperate need of a better finish after a poor attacking performance against Cape Verde where Spain failed to score despite having 27 shots.
Their star winger Yamal is often either a goal or an assist, but his playing time at the 2026 World Cup has been limited as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
The 18-year-old was named on the bench and only played 71 minutes. With Spain in need of a World Cup reset, many thought Yamal would return to the starting line-up but he said that would not be the case just yet.
“It feels good, but it’s too early and unnecessary. I’m still adjusting. It’s not the right time to play a full game yet. But I can play for as long as the manager wants.” Yamal said in an interview with Spanish public television TVE on Friday.
“I want to be on the pitch. At the end of the day, I always want to go out and help the team, even if I know I can’t play for 90 minutes.”
This new golden generation, comprised of Yamal, Pedri, Ferran Torres and others, will be hoping to inspire Spain to a second World Cup win following their recent successive round of 16 exits.
Saudi Arabia, trust is high
Spain’s confidence has dropped significantly since the first game, but the atmosphere in the Saudi camp is good.
The 1-1 draw with former world champions Uruguay “helped boost our spirits,” said coach Georgios Donis, who took charge of the team two months before the World Cup.
Despite having limited time with the squad, Donis’ Saudi Arabia managed to secure points and go for a knockout victory.
After an unexpected result against Cape Verde, Spain will not take Saudi Arabia lightly. Ultimately, Saudi Arabia pulled off a huge surprise by defeating eventual champions Argentina in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup.
The Asian giants, playing for the seventh time in North America, achieved their best result in 1994 when they advanced to the round of 16.
Spain vs Saudi Arabia Prediction
Statistics provider Opta’s supercomputer gave Spain a whopping 86.7% chance of winning against Saudi Arabia, compared to just 4.3% for Saudi Arabia. The probability of a draw is 9%.
Initially, Spain were the frontrunners to win the World Cup, but after a goalless draw in the opening game they have fallen to fourth on Opta’s prediction list, with France now the favorite (15.43%).
Spain’s odds of winning the tournament are now 12.04%.
Spain vs Saudi Arabia: Live Stream, Kickoff Time
- spain: LA1, PLAY, DAZN Mundial (6 p.m., Central European Summer Time)
- Saudi Arabia: beIN SPORTS MAX 5, beIN SPORTS 4K HDR, beIN SPORTS MAX 1, TOD, beIN SPORTS MAX 3, beIN CONNECT (7 PM, Arabian Standard Time)
- uk: BBC One, BBC iPlayer, ITVX (5pm, British Summer Time)
- USA: Universo, FOX, FOX One, Telemundo App, Telemundo Network, Peacock (Noon, Eastern Daylight Time)
How does the group stage work?
Spain, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Cape Verde are in Group H.
They all have points each, with Uruguay coming in first place due to their highest team behavior score. Saudi Arabia is second, Spain is third, and Cape Verde is last.
They all have an equal chance of advancing to the knockouts and the group is wide open.
The top two teams and the top eight third-place teams from each of the 12 groups will advance to the next stage, the round of 32, introduced for the first time in World Cup history.
Form Instructions
(Last 5 games, in order of most recent games)
spain:DWDDW
Saudi Arabia: DDWLL
Spain have performed better than Saudi Arabia in their last five games.
Spain drew 0-0 with Cape Verde in their first World Cup match, beat Peru 3-1 and drew 1-1 with Iraq in a friendly in June. They also drew 0-0 with Egypt and beat Serbia 3-0 in March.
Saudi Arabia drew Uruguay 1-1 in their tournament opener, held Senegal to a goalless draw and beat Puerto Rico 3-0 in a friendly in June. They lost 2-1 to Ecuador in a friendly in May and 2-1 to Serbia in a friendly in March.
Spain vs Saudi Arabia latest head-to-head results
They met three times, with Spain winning all of them. Their last meeting dates back to September 2012, when Spain beat Saudi Arabia 5-0.
Sunday’s match will be the second time Spain and Saudi Arabia have met in the World Cup. The first meeting between the two teams took place in the 2006 tournament, which ended with Spain winning 1-0 in the group stage.
Spain expected lineup
(4-3-3): Simon; Llorente, Cubasi, La Porte, Cucurella; Ruiz, Rhodri, Pedri; Ferran, Olmo, Gabi
Saudi Arabia Expected Lineup
(4-4-2): Al Owais; Abdulhamid, al-Amri, al-Tambakti, al-Harbi; Al-Shamat, Khanno, Akhaibari, Al-Dosari; Al Buraikan, Al Juwayr
