The Spanish national team will make its debut in the World Cup in Qatar against Costa Rica on Wednesday 23 November at the Al Thumama stadium at 17:00. It will be an unprecedented fixture in a World Cup. In fact, it will be the first time that the two teams face each other in an official match, as the three previous fixtures were friendly matches.

The first match between the two teams dates back to 15 November 2011 in San José, the Costa Rican capital. This match ended in a 2-2 draw with goals scored by David Silva and David Villa. The other two matches were played in Spain. On 11 June 2015 in León, the Spanish national team won 2-1 with goals from Alcácer and Cesc, who got back in the game after the Costa Ricans' goal. The last match was on 11 November 2017 with a 5-0 win at La Rosaleda stadium in Málaga. That night Jordi Alba, Morata, Iniesta and David Silva scored twice for Spain.

World Cup Qatar 2022 will be Costa Rica's sixth World Cup in its history after taking part in Italy 90, Korea/Japan 2002, Germany 2006, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018. Their best placing was in Brazil when they made it to the quarter-finals. Four years ago in Russia, they were eliminated in the group phase.