Albania vs Serbia

Air Albania Stadium sets the stage for a high-stakes 2026 World Cup qualifier between Albania and Serbia. 

A controversial relationship between Balkan neighbors Albania and Serbia is perhaps best illustrated by an incident during the first-ever official match between the countries in 2014. Indeed, the Court of Arbitration for Sport awarded a win to the Albanians after riots in Belgrade, only for Serbia to avenge that loss with a 2-0 win in Tirana in the reverse fixture. Therefore, Sylvinho’s men will be out to score against this opposition for the first time and bolster their hopes of securing a place at the World Cup finals for the first time in the nation’s history. Albania’s Group K campaign has been off to a mixed start (W1, L1), yet they can take confidence from beating minnows Andorra on home turf (3-0). With just one of Albania’s last seven internationals seeing both teams on the scoresheet, finding the opening goal could be a decisive factor in this meeting. 

On the other hand, the visitors secured their place in the UEFA Nations League top flight in March by defeating Austria in a playoff, setting themselves up nicely for the beginning of the 2026 World Cup qualifying. Indeed, Serbia will be keen to qualify for a third consecutive final tournament despite their underwhelming results in the last two World Cup editions. Dragan Stojkovic’s men head into proceedings in fine form, losing just once in their previous six internationals (W2, D3). However, they’ve stuttered on the road, going winless in their last four away matches since Euro 2024 (D2, L2). On the bright side, they avoided defeat in all eight World Cup qualifiers for the 2022 edition (W6, D2) while only losing one of their last 18 such fixtures (W12, D5).