Spain vs. Belgium history: Head-to-head matches at World Cup, last meeting, team records and more

Spain vs. Belgium history: Head-to-head matches at World Cup, last meeting, team records and more originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Three-quarters of the World Cup quarterfinals are made up of European countries, setting up two matchups exclusively featuring teams from the continent.

England and Norway are meeting for the first time in World Cup history, but Spain and Belgium already have some history. 

The two nations have met twice in the World Cup and many more times outside of the World Cup, setting the stage for a matchup of teams who historically know each other well but haven't faced off recently.

Here's a look at the complete history between Spain and Belgium as they meet in the World Cup.

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Spain vs. Belgium history

Spain and Belgium have met 22 times in recorded history and 10 times since 1986, including two World Cup meetings. The last World Cup match between Spain and Belgium came in 1990, and the last matchup in any setting came in a 2016 international friendly.

Spain has won a majority of those head-to-head matchups, including the last five, but the most recent win by Belgium -- officially listed as a draw -- came at the 1986 World Cup, when the Belgians advanced to the semifinals in a penalty shootout. 

Four years later, Spain won a group stage match against Belgium.

Here's a look at the head-to-head results between Spain and Belgium.

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Spain vs. Belgium head-to-head

Spain is 12-5-5 all-time against Belgium, dating back to 1921. The two haven't met since 2016 and haven't met in a game with implications since 2009, when Spain won a 5-0 rout during World Cup qualifying competition.

Belgium hasn't beaten Spain since a quarterfinal victory at the 1986 World Cup. The two played to a draw during European Qualifiers in 1995, but success has otherwise been on Spain's side for the last four decades.

With that being said, Belgium's "golden generation," which came about in the early 2010s, has only faced Spain once and hasn't faced Spain in a game with implications. 

Belgium and Spain are 1-1 against each other in the World Cup.

Spain vs. Belgium: Last five meetings

Here are the last five meetings between Spain and Belgium.

Spain has outscored Belgium 13-1 over their last five matchups, dating back to 2004.

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Last Spain vs. Belgium match

Spain last faced Belgium in an international friendly on Sept. 1, 2016, marking the only meeting between Belgium's "golden generation" and Spain.

Despite Belgium playing some of its best soccer in the 2010s, Spain won comfortably on two goals from David Silva. Silva scored in the 34th minute and took advantage of a penalty opportunity in the 62nd minute to give Spain a two-goal advantage.

The match was Spain manager Julen Lopetegui's first win with the team; he would last less than two years before being fired days before the 2018 World Cup due to his intention to take the same job at Real Madrid.