World and European champions Spain will host Italy in a friendly on March 5 with the proceeds of the match to go to the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), the players' union announced on Thursday.

The match will take place at Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon stadium and will be a final chance for managers Vicente del Bosque and Cesare Prandelli to experiment before naming their squads for the World Cup, which starts in Brazil on June 12.

Jorge Perez, secretary general of the Spanish Football Federation and Manuel Rubiales, president of AFE, also confirmed that Del Bosque will announce his squad for the match at AFE's headquarters on February 28.

The plight of many Spanish footballers, especially in the lower leagues, gained international attention last week when players of Racing Santander refused to play the second leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final against Real Sociedad having not been paid since September.