The upcoming Nations League campaign is crucial for the development of the Belarus side. The team is determined to secure points against Bulgaria on neutral ground in Hungary, although bookmakers believe the nominal visitors have a better chance of winning.
In their Euro 2024 qualifiers, Belarus ended on a high note with a four-game unbeaten streak: in November, they secured narrow victories over Andorra and Kosovo (both 1:0). In 2024, their attack struggled, but it's important to note that they played intentionally against decent opponents like Montenegro (0:2), Russia, and Israel (both 0:4). Carlos Alós and his coaching staff are tasked with advancing out of their Nations League group, with immediate results being a clear expectation.
Bulgaria last won an official match two years ago (against North Macedonia in the last Nations League campaign, 1:0). Since then, stagnation in local football has reached its peak: in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, the team managed to earn only 4 points out of a possible 24 (7 goals in 8 games). Bulgaria no longer boast top players, with only the experienced Kiril Despodov from PAOK standing out in the squad.
Belarus is likely to stick to their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, handing the attacking initiative to the talented Dmitriy Antilevskiy, Valeriy Gromyko, and Maksim Kireev. Given Bulgaria's failure in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, even if they win, it is likely to be by only a single goal. Overall, Belarus have excellent chances of avoiding defeat.
| Bookmaker | 1 | X | 2 | U 2.5 | O 2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
13/5
|
21/10
|
6/5
|
11/25
|
8/5
|
|
|
5/2
|
2/1
|
23/20
|
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|
—
|
|
Carlos Alos Ferrer
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
Pavel Pavlyuchenko
|
gk. | 14 | -18 |
Sergey Ignatovich
|
gk. | 9 | -12 |
Fedor Lapoukhov
|
gk. | 1 | -1 |
Alyaksandr Martynovich
|
df. | 75 | 2 |
|
Denis Polyakov
|
df. | 63 | 2 |
Kirill Pechenin
|
df. | 29 | 0 |
Zakhar Volkov
|
df. | 17 | 0 |
Sergei Karpovich
|
df. | 11 | 0 |
Aleksandr Pavlovets
|
df. | 10 | 0 |
Pavel Tsabelin
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
Max Ebong Ngome
|
mf. | 38 | 5 |
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Vladislav Klimovich
|
mf. | 38 | 1 |
Eugeniy Yablonskiy
|
mf. | 36 | 3 |
Yuri Kovalev
|
mf. | 22 | 1 |
|
Valeri Gromyko
|
mf. | 17 | 1 |
|
Aleksandr Selyava
|
mf. | 10 | 0 |
|
Kirill Kaplienko
|
mf. | 9 | 0 |
Maksim Kireev
|
mf. | 4 | 0 |
|
Ivan Bakhar
|
fw. | 29 | 2 |
Dmitri Antilevski
|
fw. | 13 | 2 |
Yevgeniy Shikavka
|
fw. | 2 | 0 |
German Barkovskiy
|
fw. | 1 | 0 |
Ilya Moskalenchik
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Trofim Melnichenko
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
|
Ilian Iliev
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
Ivan Dyulgerov
|
gk. | 6 | -6 |
Svetoslav Vutsov
|
gk. | 6 | -6 |
Dimitar Mitov
|
gk. | 3 | -3 |
Valentin Antov
|
df. | 27 | 1 |
Viktor Popov
|
df. | 15 | 0 |
Alex Petkov
|
df. | 10 | 0 |
|
Zhivko Atanasov
|
df. | 6 | 0 |
|
Simeon Petrov
|
df. | 5 | 0 |
Angel Lyaskov
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
|
Ertan Tombak
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
Georgi Kostadinov
|
mf. | 41 | 3 |
Filip Krastev
|
mf. | 17 | 1 |
Ilia Gruev
|
mf. | 16 | 0 |
|
Vasil Panayotov
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Ivan Minchev
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
Zdravko Dimitrov
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
Fabian Nürnberger
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
Kiril Despodov
|
fw. | 49 | 14 |
Martin Minchev
|
fw. | 18 | 0 |
Georgi Rusev
|
fw. | 17 | 1 |
Radoslav Kirilov
|
fw. | 14 | 2 |
George Minchev
|
fw. | 11 | 1 |
Aleksandar Kolev
|
fw. | 6 | 0 |
Stanislav Ivanov
|
fw. | 3 | 0 |
Ahmed Ahmedov
|
fw. | 0 | 0 |
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