Slovenia face a difficult League B1 opener against Scotland in the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League.
Slovenia preserved their League B status by beating Slovakia 1-0 on aggregate in the promotion-relegation play-off in the last edition, whilst Scotland were relegated from League A after a 3-1 aggregate loss to Greece in their play-off tie.
Team News
Slovenia will be without Benjamin Sesko (shin), Zan Zaletel and Nik Prelec (both unspecified), with Zan Celar and Jure Balkovec called up as Sesko and Prelec’s replacements.
Scotland will be without Kieran Tierney (knock) and Kenny McLean (ankle) after the pair withdrew from the squad.
When is Kick-Off?
Slovenia host Scotland at Stozice Stadium, Ljubljana, on Saturday 26 September at 3pm CEST (2pm BST), live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer across the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Slovenia’s first UEFA Nations League meeting against Scotland.
- Scotland are yet to lose away to Slovenia in all competitions (W1, D2).
- Slovenia have never beaten Scotland in any competition (D3, L2).
- Slovenia have won just one of their last 10 matches in all competitions (W1, D5, L4).
- Scotland have won three of their last five matches in all competitions (W3, L2).
Prediction
With poor form coming into this tournament and the loss of Sesko and Prelec up front, Slovenia really need to show their defensive qualities and be clinical if they’re to try and grind out a result as this is a tough group for them.
Scotland meanwhile allowed their warm-up friendly form to just go AWOL once the World Cup commenced because if they had been better defensively, they could snuck into the knockout stages, but it felt like Steve Clarke had taken them as far as he could.
Sebastien Pocognoli’s appointment therefore should give them a fresh bounce and a different perspective as the only second foreign manager of the team, which is something that this squad could relish if they can adapt to his tactics and this game might just be the ideal soft start.
Slovenia though should make a scrap of this but I do think that Scotland should realistically have the edge.
Prediction: Slovenia 0-1 Scotland
Result: Slovenia 0-0 Scotland