Bulgaria vs Luxembourg prediction and predicted line-ups: Korać ruled out for Luxembourg. Nations League

Luxembourg have never beaten Bulgaria: 17 meetings since 1969, 14 Bulgarian wins and three draws. On Saturday 26 September Aleksandar Dimitrov's Bulgaria host Jeff Strasser's Luxembourg in the opening round of the 2026/27 Nations League, and Strasser has lost a centre-back: Hellas Verona's Seid Korać ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee on Sunday 20 September.

Bulgaria vs Luxembourg: kick-off time and venue

Bulgaria vs Luxembourg kicks off at 17:00 UK time (18:00 CEST) on Saturday 26 September at the Hristo Botev stadium in Plovdiv. It is Group C4 of League C in the Nations League, with Iceland and Estonia. The calendar is new: four games in 11 days, from 26 September to 6 October, when Bulgaria and Luxembourg meet again in Luxembourg. The group finishes in November.

Team news

Dimitrov is without his captain, Kiril Despodov, still recovering from surgery on a toe, and Filip Krastev, who has had a knee operation and is out until January. According to the Bulgarian press, none of the 27 players is injured for now. On Tuesday 22 September Leeds midfielder Iliya Gruev, who says he feels good after a long lay-off, spoke about the group: “Мисля, че е нормално в тази група да искаме да станем първи” (I think it's normal that in this group we want to finish first).

Luxembourg have called up Eldin Dzogovic, a 23-year-old Magdeburg defender, in place of Korać. Spartak Moscow's Christopher Martins is also missing with a pubic injury, and Strasser says Mathias Olesen, just back from injury, will not be able to start all four games.

Bulgaria vs Luxembourg predicted line-ups

Neither XI holds up. For Bulgaria there is a single preview in the local press. According to it, Dimitrov is ready to use winger Marin Petkov at left-back, with Ivan Turitsov on the right, Emil Tsenov in midfield and Lukas Petkov up front. No Luxembourg preview has appeared and Strasser has given nothing away; with Korać out, the Luxembourg press see Enes Mahmutovic and Vahid Selimovic competing at centre-back. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.

Head-to-head and form

The last three meetings: 0-0 in a friendly in Luxembourg on 20 November 2022, 0-0 in Plovdiv on 12 October 2024 and a 1-0 Bulgaria win in Luxembourg on 15 November 2024, the last two in the Nations League. Bulgaria ended their World Cup qualifiers by beating Georgia 2-1 on 18 November 2025, after five straight defeats; in 2026 they have played only friendlies, and in June they lost 1-0 to Montenegro at this same ground in Plovdiv before drawing 2-2 in Moldova. Luxembourg lost all six qualifiers, then stayed in League C by beating Malta 2-0 and 3-0 in the March play-off. In June they lost a friendly 1-0 to Italy and won 1-0 in Albania with a goal from Danel Sinani, who joined Sampdoria in Serie B this summer.

Our Bulgaria vs Luxembourg prediction

Our call is at least two goals, confidence 6 out of 10. Each of Bulgaria's last six competitive games had at least two goals; Luxembourg scored five in their two games against Malta and have to rebuild their centre-back pairing. The head-to-head points the other way: none of the last three meetings produced more than one goal. The rest of the round is in our matchday one preview.

Every game with our calls is on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in player predictions.