Mallorca to host Spain-Northern Ireland friendly in June

Son Moix will host Spain’s last friendly ahead of this summer’s Euro 2024 in Germany. Northern Ireland will provide Luis de la Fuente’s team with a warm-up match for the tournament on Saturday 8 June, kicking off at 21:30 hours local time CEST (3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT). The venue, home to RCD Mallorca, was recently remodeled and will be the scene of the sixth presence of the national team in Palma since La Roja played there for the first time in 1985.

Five previous visits to Palma

And curiously, Northern Ireland were the rivals on that occasion too. The friendly, on 27 March 1985 ended without goals and was the first of two internationals played at the former Lluís Sitjar stadium with the rest held at Son Moix. The last time that La Roja played in Mallorca was over a decade ago - a 2-1 win Belarus  on 11 October 2013 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

This summer’s friendly will be the 19th time that Spain and Northern Ireland have met and 16 years after their last meeting, on 21 November 2007. The first, in October 1958, ended in a 6-2 win for Spain. Since then, the overall balance is 11 Spanish victories, five draws and two defeats

Spain will face Andorra at Estadio Nuevo Vivero in Badajoz on Wednesday 5 June in preparation for Euro 2024. It will be the fourth time that Spain have played in Badajoz and only their second encounter with Andorra. The one and only previous meeting, in June 2004, ended in a 4-0 win with goals from Morientes, Rubén Baraja, César Martín and Valerón.

In Germany, De la Fuente’s team will start out in Group B alongside Croatia, Italy and Albania - one of the toughest groups in the tournament. Euro 2024 gets underway on Friday 14 June and runs until the final on 14 July.