Spain vs Croatia: 25 games, never beaten at the Pizjuán

Spain's first home game as world champions comes at the one ground they've never lost at: 20 wins, 5 draws and a 55-6 goal tally since 1961.

Spain vs Croatia at the Sánchez-Pizjuán is no ordinary Nations League 2026 fixture. Tonight (20:45 CEST, 7:45pm UK) Spain play at home for the first time as world champions, and they do it at the one ground where they have never been beaten: 25 matches, 20 wins, 5 draws and just 6 goals conceded across 65 years. If the national team has a lucky charm, it lives in the Nervión district of Seville.

The timing makes the number even better. Spain arrive with a 40-match unbeaten run in competitive games after Saturday's 3-2 comeback at Wembley, and with a second star on the shirt since 19 July, when Ferran Torres's extra-time winner beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final in New Jersey. We covered that night in our report on the final.

Spain at the Sánchez-Pizjuán: 25 games, zero defeats

The love affair began in March 1961 with a 2-0 win over Argentina, Spain's first game at Sevilla's stadium. Three years later, in 1964, the Pizjuán hosted a 5-1 thrashing of the Republic of Ireland in the first leg of a European Championship quarter-final, on the road to Spain's first major trophy. Ever since, the ground has been shorthand for good luck in a red shirt.

That last line is the eye-catcher: no visiting side has ever scored more than once against Spain at the Sánchez-Pizjuán. The draws include a 0-0 with the USSR in 1971, a 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland in 1992 and a 1-1 with Belgium in 1995. Frustrating nights, perhaps, but never a loss.

The nights that built the Pizjuán legend

Some of those 25 matches matter more than others. These are the ones Spanish fans bring up when they call the stadium a talisman:

1. March 1961: Spain 2-0 Argentina. The national team's first game in Nervión.
2. 1964: Spain 5-1 Republic of Ireland. First leg of a Euro quarter-final; Spain lifted the trophy at the Bernabéu that summer.
3. November 1993: Spain 1-0 Denmark. Down to ten men almost from the start after Zubizarreta's red card, Spain qualified for USA 94 thanks to a Fernando Hierro header.
4. March 2015: Spain 1-0 Ukraine. Álvaro Morata's first international goal, and Spain's last visit to the ground until tonight.

One caveat worth knowing: the streak belongs to the Pizjuán, not to Seville as a whole. Across the city's three stadiums Spain have played 55 times, winning 42 and losing 4, two of those defeats coming at La Cartuja (0-2 to Argentina in 1999 and 1-2 to the Netherlands in 2000). And the most famous rout in Spanish football history, the 12-1 against Malta in 1983, happened across town at the Benito Villamarín.

Spain vs Croatia, Nations League 2026: the form guide

This is matchday two in League A, Group 3, and both sides start it on three points. Spain won at Wembley through Lamine Yamal, Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal after Harry Kane hit the bar with a penalty. Croatia, with Slaven Bilić back in the dugout, won 2-1 in Prague thanks to Luka Modrić and Marco Pašalić.

Luis de la Fuente has already said he will rotate. Spain face four games in ten days, and Eric García has been sent back to his club as a precaution. The coach, who played for Sevilla in the late 1980s, admitted that walking back onto the Pizjuán pitch stirs up personal memories.

• When: Tuesday 29 September, 20:45 CEST (7:45pm UK).
• Where: Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Seville.
• TV in Spain: La 1 (free-to-air).
• Next up: Czechia in Oviedo on Saturday 3 October, then Croatia away on Tuesday 6 October.

A 40-game unbeaten run that keeps growing

Spain's last competitive defeat was a 2-0 loss to Scotland in Glasgow on 28 March 2023. Since then they have won the 2023 Nations League, Euro 2024 and the 2026 World Cup. The only side to beat them in any game in that time was Colombia, 1-0 in a friendly in London in March 2024.

Croatia also have a habit of dragging Spain into wild games: the 5-3 in Copenhagen at Euro 2020, the 2023 Nations League final settled on penalties and the 3-0 in Berlin at Euro 2024. If you want to know what that means for tonight's pick, our Quiniela matchday 10 preview breaks it down.

What it means for Quiniela matchday 10

Tonight's game closes the coupon for Quiniela matchday 10, an international-break round made up of fifteen national-team fixtures. History doesn't take the field, but it does set the scene: Spain don't lose at the Pizjuán, they're 40 competitive games unbeaten, and nobody has scored twice against them there. Then again, De la Fuente is rotating, and Croatia still have Modrić, Kovačić and Gvardiol.

If you enjoy calling these games with your mates, quiniPrats lets you set up a private prediction league with friends in a couple of minutes, make your picks each round and follow a live table. Here's how it works, in case tonight's game at the Pizjuán feels like a good one to start with.