Following his debut in Spain’s victory (3-1) against Bosnia and Herzegovina in St. Gallen, Pablo Fornals becomes the ninth player in Málaga CF’s history to play with Spain’s first team.
The first player on the list was Rufete, who debuted against Italy on 29th March 2000, in a match held in the then Montjuïc Olympic Stadium (Barcelona). He went on to play two more games with Spain against Germany and Austria.
Out of all the Málaga CF internationals, Santi Cazorla stands out, winning the Euro 2012 title whilst a player at the Club; as well as being the only Málaga player to score with Spain, against Serbia and South Korea. In addition, ‘Koke’ Contreras was the first Málaga CF player to compete in a World Cup, forming part of the Spain team in the Korea and Japan World Cup in 2002.
The list of Málaga CF players who have competed with Spain includes the following:
Rival during debut - Result- Date (matches/total goals with the national team)
- Rufete - Spain 2-0 Italy (29/03/2000) (3/0)
- ‘Koke’ Contreras - Spain 0-0 Paraguay (16/10/2002) (1/0)
- Salva Ballesta - Spain 2-0 Denmark (31/03/2004) (1/0)
- Santi Cazorla - Italy 2-1 Spain (10/08/2011) (11/2)
- Monreal - Costa Rica 2-2 Spain (15/11/2011) (5/0)
- Isco - Spain 3-1 Uruguay (06/02/2013) (1/0)
- Camacho - Spain 0-1 Germany (18/11/2014) (1/0)
- Juanmi - Netherlands 2-0 Spain (31/03/2015) (1/0)
- Pablo Fornals - Spain 3-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (29/05/2016) (1/0)
(*) Salva Ballesta, Santi Cazorla and Monreal had already debuted with Spain, before becoming Málaga CF players.
(**) Not forgetting the now extinct CD Málaga, boasting three players in Spain’s first team (Migueli, Deusto and Macías) plus another player with the B team (Bazán).
