Spain vs Egypt
The European champions are gearing up to become world champions this summer.
Spain, fresh from their joyous success at Euro 2024 when they became the first team to win six matches at a European Championship and then won a seventh, are bidding to become the first ever nation to twice hold both titles at the same time (following West Germany in 1976-78, France 2000-2002 and their Spanish predecessors 2010-2014).
Egypt, meanwhile, also have a chance to make history as they bid to reach the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time.
Two nations, each chasing their own slice of history, but what will Tuesday night’s international friendly between the two tell us?
Talking Points
At this stage, results are secondary but wins breed confidence and Friday night’s friendly victory against Serbia, in which Mikel Oyarzabal netted twice, followed by a debut goal for Vitor Munoz, will do Spain no harm at all.
For Egypt, who travel to Barcelona for the game, this provides far more of a test than the one provided by Saudi Arabia on Friday night.
That was a game in which Islam Issa, Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet, Zizo and Omar Marmoush were on target – three of the goals coming in the first half – as the Pharaohs delivered international friendly 2026 highlights.
This meeting was actually scheduled to be played in Qatar but the US-Israeli strikes on Iran have affected countries throughout the Gulf so has been naturally switched due to safety concerns.
Tuesday night’s match at the RCDE Stadium will be a good indicator of how the east Africans are equipped as they prepare for Group G encounters in June which will see them pit their wits against Belgium, Iran, and New Zealand.
They’ve surely never had a better chance to progress beyond the group stages.
The official records show they reached the last 16 at the 1934 World Cup but the format of that competition meant they actually only played one game, a 4-2 loss to Hungary.
Coach Hossam Hassan insists his squad has the quality and mentality to surpass past performances and deliver a stronger global showing and the players’ hunger – led by Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, the undoubted talisman for the Pharaohs, for many years and Manchester City’s Marmoush – should give the nation confidence they can aim higher than previous tournaments and establish a new benchmark for Egyptian football on the world stage.
Such an achievement would be the perfect answer to the detractors, albeit small in number, who criticised manager Hossam Hassan during the African Cup of Nations at the start of the year. following their semi0final exit, he was challenged by journalists about what they called the team’s technical shortcomings, prompting an angry reaction.
History
These nations have met four times in history and only once since 1963.
That was a friendly in June 2006, ahead of the World Cup that summer, when Spain ran out 2-0 winners in Elche, courtesy of goals from Raul and the late and much-missed Jose Antonio Reyes.
All their other meetings have been in the former Mediterranean Cup/Games.
In November 1955, Spain were 5-1 winners in Madrid, led by a four goal haul from Manuel Badenes (although that side was effectively the country’s B team).
Sixteen months later they met in Cairo when Pepillo scored the only goal the visitors (again considered a B team outing).
Their other match-up was in 1963 in the group stage of the competition when the teams played out a 1-1 draw in Salerno.
Betting Tip
In truth, La Roja rarely look like losing nowadays and I would back them to truimph but our SBOTOP international friendly 2026 betting odds aren’t quite yet online.
Don’t forget to check them out over the next few days for what should be an attack-minded contest.
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