Bulgaria vs Spain prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-09-03 18:45.
[p]European qualification for the 2026 World Cup continues this Thursday, with reigning European champions Spain beginning their qualifying bid with a trip to Bulgaria.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]As the lowest-ranked side in World Cup qualification (WCQ) Group E, Bulgaria will have to produce a minor miracle if they’re to book their spot at a first World Cup finals since 1998. Recent form would hint at that being nothing more than a pipe dream, as after losing out in a promotion/relegation play-off against Ireland in the UEFA Nations League (UNL) in March, they failed to win either of their June friendlies (D1, L1). The glory days of the mid-90s and the fourth-placed finish they achieved at the 1994 World Cup are now firmly in the rearview mirror, and having yet to beat a nation ranked 70th or higher in the world under Ilian Iliev, they’ve got a difficult task here. [/p]
[p]Things may be miserable for the hosts, but they’re anything but for Spain, who are the reigning European champions and currently the bookmakers’ favourites to lift next summer’s World Cup. They could have been going for a trio of honours next summer had it not been for their UNL final defeat against Portugal back in June, which was incredibly their first competitive defeat since March 2023 (W22, D2). Posting back-to-back competitive defeats for the first time since December 2022 here seems a far-fetched possibility though, as Spain have only lost one game across their last seven WCQ cycles (W51, D14).[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]Spain remain unbeaten across all five H2Hs (W4, D1) and posted their biggest-ever international win against Bulgaria back in 1933 with a 13-0 victory![/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Bulgaria have conceded 2+ goals in all four of their 2025 international fixtures. [/p]
[p]There have been exactly four goals scored in Bulgaria’s first WCQ game in four of the last five cycles. [/p]
[p]Spain’s last six internationals saw both teams score and over 2.5 goals. [/p]
[p]Spain have scored before half-time in their last seven games. [/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Kiril Despodov has scored just one fewer international goal (15) than the rest of the Bulgaria squad combined (16) – the last three of those served to open the scoring. Álvaro Morata has netted more international goals than the whole Bulgaria squad combined (37) and has seen the last seven of those come in games Spain won by a 2+ goal margin. [/p]
[p]Bulgaria are almost at full-strength for this clash. Álex Baena is a regular in the Spain squad, but an injury has ruled him out of the September internationals. [/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]Given how rampant Spain tend to be in front of goal, backing them in the -1 handicap market provides better value than just a win on its own. [/p]
[p][i]Author: Chris Wilson[/i][/p]