Preview: Albania vs Belarus - prediction, team news, lineups

Arena Kombetare will stage Albania’s first home match in the new UEFA Nations League campaign against Belarus on Saturday night.

These two nations must finish top of League C Group 3 - also including Finland and San Marino - if they wish to secure automatic promotion, or finish second to enter the promotion playoffs.

Match preview

Albania narrowly missed out on qualifying for their first World Cup as an independent nation this summer, after they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Poland in the playoff finals, letting a one-goal lead slip with less than half an hour remaining.

Sylvinho departed his role as head coach in May and has since been replaced by Rolando Maran, who has now decided to take on a fresh challenge on the international stage after managing 11 different Italian clubs over a 22-year period.

Maran is yet to hit the ground running with Albania, though, with 1-0 friendly losses to Israel and Luxembourg in June extending the nation’s unwanted losing streak to five matches. This has come after they enjoyed a five-game winning run between September and November 2025.

Ranked 67th in the world by FIFA, Albania were relegated from League B in the previous edition of the Nations League, finishing bottom of their group despite accumulating seven points from six games against Czech Republic, Ukraine and Georgia.

Not since 1997 have the Red and Blacks suffered six straight defeats, but they are unbeaten across their last four encounters with Belarus (W3 D1), including home and away wins during the 2020-21 Nations League.

However, Belarus have put together a six-game unbeaten streak across all competitions (W3 D3) and are yet to suffer defeat under new head coach Viktor Goncharenko, who replaced Carlos Alos in January.

Three successive friendly victories over Cyprus (1-0), Armenia (2-1) and Syria (4-1) were recorded before they played out a 2-2 draw with Burkina Faso in their most recent match in June.

Ranked 96th in the world by FIFA, Belarus have never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship, while they narrowly missed out on a Nations League promotion playoff spot in the 2024-25 campaign, finishing two points behind Bulgaria in second place.

The White Wings travel to Tirana on Saturday seeking to claim their first away win over Albania since November 2007 when they beat the Red and Blacks 4-2 in a Euros qualifier.

Albania form (all competitions):

Belarus form (all competitions):

Team News

Albania midfielders Qazim Laci and Adrion Pajaziti have both withdrawn from the squad due to injury. Feta Fetai has since been called up and is one of four uncapped players aiming to make their debut.

With goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha sidelined through injury, 37-year-old Etrit Berisha has returned to the national team squad after a two-year absence and could earn his 82nd cap on Saturday.

Burnley striker Armando Broja is a notable omission from Maran’s squad, leaving Rey Manaj, Mirlind Daku and Cristian Shpendi to battle for a start up front – the latter of whom has scored six goals in just five Serie B games for Cesena this term.

As for Belarus, 29-cap midfielder Yury Kavalyow and forward Vladislav Morozov are two players that have been left out of Gancharenko's squad after featuring during June’s international break.

Key midfielder Max Ebong from CSKA Sofia is expected to operate in an advanced central role in front of Yevgeny Yablonsky and either Valery Bocherov or Aleksandr Selyava.

Porto B starlet Trofim Melnichenko, 20, has 10 senior caps to his name and will be pushing to start in attack ahead of Vitaliy Lisakovich, German Barkovskiy and Timofey Simanenka.

Albania possible starting lineup:

Berisha; Hysaj, Djimsiti, Kumbulla, Mitaj; Mehmeti, Ramadani, Asllani, Hoxha; Manaj, Shpendi

Belarus possible starting lineup:

Pavlyuchenko; Shevchenko, Volkov, Begunov, Malkevich; Yablonsky, Bocherov; Shumansky, Ebong, Kontsevoy; Melnichenko

We say: Albania 2-1 Belarus

Both nations will be determined to make a strong start to their Nations League campaign, and while Belarus have recently made themselves difficult to beat, their defensive fragility remains a concern after conceding in 10 of their last 12 games.

Although Albania have lacked a clinical touch in front of goal in recent internationals, we are backing them to navigate their way to a slender victory and secure their first triumph under new boss Maran.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.