Slovakia vs Moldova – News and Probable Lineups

Slovakia and Moldova will commence their UEFA Nations League journey with a match at Futbol Tatran Arena in Presov on Saturday evening.

In League C Group 3, both nations will face Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands, where securing the top position is critical for direct promotion, while a second-place finish should suffice for a chance to compete in promotion playoffs.

Match overview

Slovakia narrowly fell short of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, experiencing a heart-wrenching 4-3 defeat at home against Kosovo in the playoff finals in March, having previously achieved four victories in six group encounters to secure second place, trailing Germany.

Francesco Calzona was dismissed from his role the following month, and Vladimir Weiss has been reinstated as Slovakia’s head coach, 14 years after his initial tenure concluded.

Competing in League C of the Nations League for the third consecutive campaign, Weiss has emphasized the necessity for his team to “win the group” this time, expressing confidence that his players will become “hungry” for victory during the international break.

Ranked 45th globally by FIFA, Slovakia have lost only one of their last 11 home fixtures since Euro 2024 (W7 D3), although they have managed just two wins in seven Nations League matches on home soil (D3 L2).

The most recent meeting with Moldova took place at home in September 2001, where Slovakia overcame a deficit at halftime to secure a 4-2 victory in a World Cup qualifying game.

Additionally, Slovakia triumphed 1-0 in the previous encounter 11 months prior, but Moldova marked their first-ever encounter with the Falcons in February 2000 with a 2-0 win in a friendly.

Regarded as one of the underdogs in Europe, Moldova is currently ranked 159th by FIFA and has never made it to a World Cup or European Championship. However, they achieved promotion from League D in the 2024-25 Nations League season.

Three victories without conceding from four matches (L1) against Malta and Andorra enabled them to top the group and return to League C for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

Unfortunately, Lilian Popescu’s squad did not enjoy similar success in 2026 World Cup qualifying, managing just one point from eight games (D1 L7) and conceding 32 goals during that period.

Moldova has since drawn their last two friendly matches against Bulgaria (2-2) and Armenia (1-1) in June, but will head to Slovakia this weekend hoping to break a 15-match winless streak across all competitions that dates back to November 2024.