Czechia vs Croatia prediction and predicted line-ups: Denia's debut and Bilić's return. Nations League, Saturday 26 September
Santi Denia and Slaven Bilić both take charge for the first time in Prague on Saturday. Czechia have lost six players and Krejčí is a doubt, while Croatia's Matanović missed training with a virus and Modrić may not start.
Two head coaches start their reigns in Prague on Saturday 26 September, almost a year after a goalless draw in the same city. Czechia host Croatia in the opening round of the 2026/27 Nations League. Santi Denia, the Spaniard who won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, is the first foreign head coach of the Czech national team, while Slaven Bilić is back in charge of Croatia 14 years after his first spell, replacing Zlatko Dalić. Both went out early at the World Cup: Czechia in the group stage, Croatia in the round of 32.
Czechia vs Croatia: kick-off time and venue
Czechia vs Croatia kicks off at 19:45 UK time (20:45 local time) on Saturday 26 September at the Eden Stadium in Prague, known as the Fortuna Arena for sponsorship reasons. It is Group A3 of League A in the Nations League, the same group as Spain and England, who meet at Wembley that evening. The top two reach the quarter-finals in March 2027.
Team news
Denia lost six players on Monday 21 September, five of them from Slavia Prague: David Zima, Tomáš Vlček, David Jurásek, Lukáš Provod and Tomáš Chorý, plus Plzeň's Denis Višinský. Union Saint-Gilloise's Kričfaluši, Šubert, Bologna's Martin Vitík, Sejk, Vašulín and Sláma came in. Tomáš Souček was already out with an ankle problem and Patrik Schick is not in the squad. The doubt is World Cup captain Ladislav Krejčí of Wolves, who spent Monday and Tuesday in the gym. Assistant Radek Bejbl explained on Monday: “Říkal, že měl po náročném programu trochu přetížené lýtko” (He told me his calf was a bit overloaded after a heavy schedule). The staff expect him back within days.
Croatia replaced Josip Juranović with Jakić and Martin Erlić with Fiorentina's Marin Pongračić, and added Majer. Twenty-six players trained in Rijeka on Tuesday 22 September, all but Igor Matanović, who has a mild virus. Luka Modrić, 41 since 9 September, was out on the pitch after a gym session on Monday, and Bilić said at the squad's gathering on Monday that he still counts on him: “Dok god bude igrao ondje, igrat će i za nas” (As long as he keeps playing at Milan, he will play for us too).
Czechia vs Croatia predicted line-ups
The two Croatian previews from earlier in the week agree on the back four Bilić prefers: Croatia (4-2-3-1): Livaković; Stanišić, Vušković, Gvardiol, Perišić; Kovačić, Modrić (doubtful); Vlašić, Petar Sučić, Baturina; Matanović (doubtful). Modrić is a doubt, as one of the previews leaves him out and Bilić has said he will not play all four games. Nikola Vlašić is competing with Luka Sučić and Mario Pašalić, and with Matanović ill on Tuesday Ante Budimir's chances have gone up.
There is no Czech XI. On 18 September Denia said he did not yet know who his number one would be, and Kovář, Kinský and Horníček are competing in goal. Chaloupek is at centre-back, alongside Krejčí or, if the captain is not fit, Hranáč, with Coufal or Sáček on the right and Ryneš or Sláma on the left. The only full prediction doing the rounds, to be treated with caution, has a back four and a midfield three of Macek, Sadílek and Karabec, with Ambros, Hložek and Šulc in attack. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.
Head-to-head and form
The last meeting was a 0-0 draw in Prague on 9 October 2025 in World Cup qualifying; Croatia had won the first game 5-1 on 9 June 2025. At Euro 2020 the two drew 1-1 on 18 June 2021.
Czechia reached the World Cup by winning two play-off shoot-outs in March, after 2-2 draws with the Republic of Ireland and Denmark, then lost 2-1 to South Korea, drew 1-1 with South Africa and went out after a 3-0 defeat by Mexico. Croatia lost 4-2 to England in their opener, beat Panama 1-0 and Ghana 2-1, then went out 2-1 to Portugal in the round of 32.
Our Czechia vs Croatia prediction
Our call is at least two goals, confidence 6 out of 10. All of Czechia's last five competitive games had at least two goals, with ten conceded, and Croatia let in seven in their four World Cup games. On Monday Bilić set the tone: “Prva nam je na rasporedu i javnost očekuje pobjedu” (It's the first game on the schedule and the public expect a win). Eight Croatia players are based in Serie A, among them Modrić of AC Milan, Petar Sučić of Inter and Martin Baturina of Como, and Czechia have Bologna's Vitík. 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.
