Preview: San Marino vs Belarus - prediction, team news, lineups

Belarus make the trip to San Marino on Thursday evening looking for the win that could see them end the night sitting in top spot of Group C1 in the UEFA Nations League.

Meanwhile, San Marino head into the game in Serravalle assured of bottom spot having lost all four of their matches.

Match preview

Having suffered defeat in Albania in their opening contest, Belarus essentially gifted control of the group to that nation and Finland.

However, a return of seven points from their following three games has left Belarus sitting in second position, two points behind Albania who have been far from convincing in this group.

Four of the seven points that Belarus have acquired have been against Finland, Viktor Goncharenko's side earning a 1-0 victory last time out.

They are also on a run of three consecutive clean sheets, not conceding a goal for seven halves of football in this competition.

Furthermore, Belarus have only suffered one defeat in 10 games across all tournaments. As well as wins in the likes of Cyprus and Armenia, they have earned a draw in Denmark, albeit back on November 15, 2025.

As far as San Marino are concerned, they will be bitterly disappointed to have conceded 16 goals across four matches at this level.

Despite being viewed as the clear minnows of the group after promotion from League D, shipping 10 goals in their opening home double-header versus Finland and Albania effectively left them out of contention.

To their credit, it took a 93rd-minute goal from Albania to inflict a 2-1 defeat on the 211th-ranked side in the world rankings when they met on October 6.

While Roberto Cevoli will take positives from that near-miss, San Marino remain without a win since November 2024, when they recorded a 3-1 win in Liechtenstein in the last edition of the Nations League.

San Marino Nations League form:

San Marino form (all competitions):

Belarus Nations League form:

Belarus form (all competitions):

Team News

San Marino will make at least two changes for this fixture, a consequence of centre-back Michele Cevoli being left out of the squad due to injury and striker Nicolas Giacopetti serving a one-match ban.

Marco Pasolini is expected to deputise in the middle of the defence, while the experienced Nicola Nanni could return in attack.

Lorenzo Lazarri is an alternative in midfield having scored as a substitute in Albania.

With Belarus duo Artem Shumanskiy and German Barkovskiy serving one-match bans, Artem Kontsevoy and Vitaliy Lisakovich may be drafted into the final third.

Belarus could also make a change on the right flank with Anton Kovalev potentially being handed a start.

San Marino possible starting lineup:

Colombo; Fabbri, Pasolini, Rossi, Giocondi; Meloni, Della Balda, Capicchioni, Zannoni; Salicioni, Nanni

Belarus possible starting lineup:

Lapoukhov; Kalinin, Volkov, Gomanov, Pechenin; Bocherov, Selyava; Kovalev, Ebong, Kontsevoy; Lisakovich

We say: San Marino 0-2 Belarus

As with the other games involving San Marino, we expect this to be largely one-way traffic. However, the minnows may be able to restrict Belarus to a goal in each half to add some respectability to the result.

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