Kosovo kick off their League B3 campaign against Republic of Ireland in the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League.
Kosovo secured promotion to League B via the play-offs with a 5-2 aggregate win over Iceland in the 2024-25 tournament, whilst Ireland finished third in their League B group in the same edition.
Team News
Kosovo have no fresh injury concerns to report coming into this match.
Ireland will be without midfielders – Jamie McGrath (calf) and Harvey Vale (unspecified), with Killian Phillips called up to replace both players.
When is Kick-Off?
Kosovo host Ireland at Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, on Thursday 24 September at 8:45pm CEST (7:45pm BST), live on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Kosovo’s first-ever meeting against Ireland in all competitions.
- Ireland are making their first-ever visit to Kosovo in all UEFA competitions.
- Kosovo kept clean sheets in two of their three home matches during this league phase of the 2024-25 edition in League C (W2, L1).
- Ireland won just one of their three league phase away matches in the 2024-25 edition (W1, L2).
Prediction
With just one clean sheet in four games in the first half of 2026 and some key players dropping out due to protests over leadership, Kosovo now need to just focus on their game because they do still have a strong attack and this match feels like a potential early chance to lay a marker.
Ireland though will harbour their own promotion dreams coming into this campaign and are unbeaten in their last eight matches, so I expect them to be eager to get the early mental edge with a strong result given that they’ve kept clean sheets in three of their last four games.
This is also the first clash between both teams which will be quite interesting, so I am going for a draw here.
Prediction: Kosovo 1-1 Ireland
Result: Kosovo 1-0 Ireland
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