Spain vs France | When is it? How can you watch it? What are the possible line-ups and what do the coaches think? All you need to know about the UEFA Nations League semi-final between Spain and France.

Spain’s Nico Williams and France’s Kylian Mbappé

Spain and France meet in the second UEFA Nations League semi-final on Thursday 5 June.

Spain vs France at a glance

When: Thursday 5 June (21:00 CET kick-off)
Where: Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart
What: UEFA Nations League semi-finals
How to follow: Build-up and live coverage here

What do you need to know?

The competition’s two most recent winners meet in Stuttgart for a heavyweight UEFA Nations League semi-final – a repeat of the 2020/21 final and EURO 2024 semi-final.

Spain reached the last four with a dramatic quarter-final win over the Netherlands. After a 2-2 draw in Rotterdam, La Roja edged the second-leg penalty shoot-out 5-4 thanks to Pedri’s winning spot kick after a 3-3 thriller in Valencia.

France also needed penalties to advance to the semi-finals, after bouncing back from 2-0 down in the first leg against Croatia. Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé levelled the tie in Paris, before Mike Maignan saved a decisive kick and Dayot Upamecano dispatched the clincher in another 5-4 shoot-out win.

This time, a place in the final at Munich Football Arena awaits the winner – where Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo goals saw Luis de la Fuente’s charges overcome Les Bleus last year.

Possible line-ups

Spain: Unai Simón; Mingueza, Cubarsí, Huijsen, Cucurella; Pedri, Ruíz; Yamal, Olmo, Williams; Morata
Out: Rodri, Carvajal, Laporte, Ayoze Pérez, Ferran Torres

• Luis de La Fuente tends not to use Pedri at pivote, the 22-year-old’s favoured position when he plays for Barcelona, but how will he view this test, and will that change where he locates Barcelona’s La Liga winner? There’s also a dilemma at centre-back. Robin Le Normand is another favourite of the Basque coach, but two youngsters – Pau Cubarsí and Dean Huijsen – have had exceptional seasons and might be paired in the semi-final.

France: Maignan; Kalulu, Konaté, Lenglet, T. Hernandez; Koné, Rabiot; Dembélé, Olise, Doué; Mbappé
Out: Camavinga, Koundé, Saliba, Upamecano

• With seven players involved in the Champions League final between Paris and Inter (Lucas Hernandez, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard) how might that influence the way Deschamps sets his side up, particularly for the semi-final? Michael Olise could again be given the keys to ignite the side’s stellar attacking talent.

Reporters’ views

Graham Hunter, Spain reporter
Spain’s favourite competition! Winners in 2023 and runners-up in 2021, Spain are in the business end of this competition once more. With memories of their UEFA EURO 2024 win fresh, they return to Germany with hopes of another triumph. It’s impactful that important, ‘winning’ footballers like Carvajal and Rodri are missing – but this coach has the knack of bringing the best out of less experienced players who are bursting with will-to-win. Last summer Yamal and Olmo did the damage to France in the Euro 2024 semi-final – do La Roja have it in them again? You wouldn’t write them off.

Alex Clementson, France reporter
And so they meet again. After suffering heartbreak at the hands of De la Fuente’s side last summer, Mbappé and Co. will be looking to enact revenge on their Iberian neighbours. With seven members of the squad involved in the Champions League final, how Deschamps navigates their reintroduction may go some way to influencing the outcome of this semi-final. Injuries to three of his preferred four-man defence will force the manager’s hand – and how they police an in-form Yamal will prove key.

Manu Kone On facing Spain in the semi-finals

We know they’re a great team with many amazing players, just like us. We’ll study their game to be fully prepared, we’ll work hard, and we’ll focus on ourselves as well. We’ll work on the offensive and defensive parts of our game to get the job done. It will be a great match. We’re confident.

On France coach Deschamps

He was a great player for France and managed to successfully transition into a coach, with the many successes he’s achieved with the national team. I think it was the next logical step of his career and we’re very happy to have him as a coach. We know he’ll step down next year, so we’ll do everything we can to repay him. We’ll fight on the pitch and try our very best. Personally, he made me feel at ease as soon as I joined the group. He knew I had certain qualities and told me to apply them for the benefit of the team. He knew I could bring something extra. He told me to play my game the same way I do when I play for Roma. He makes me feel confident. He’s happy, I’m happy; everything is perfect.