Serbia vs Greece prediction and predicted line-ups: no Mitrović, and Vlahović set to miss out. Nations League

Greece play their first League A game in the Nations League in Belgrade, in their head coach's home country. On Thursday 24 September Veljko Paunović's Serbia host a side led by Serbian coach Ivan Jovanović, and they do it without either of their main centre-forwards: Aleksandar Mitrović is injured and was not called up, and according to the Serbian press Dušan Vlahović has also been hurt and has told Paunović he will not be there. Neither country went to the World Cup: Serbia finished third in their qualifying group behind England and Albania, Greece third behind Scotland and Denmark.

Serbia vs Greece: kick-off time and venue

Serbia vs Greece kicks off at 19:45 UK time (20:45 CEST) on Thursday 24 September at the Rajko Mitić Stadium in Belgrade, the Marakana, which holds 49,450 according to UEFA. It is matchday one of Group A2 in League A of the Nations League, alongside the Netherlands and Germany, who meet in Amsterdam at the same time: for that game, our call is at least two goals, confidence 7 out of 10. The top two reach the quarter-finals in March 2027, while the bottom side goes down to League B or into a play-off, and third place can also mean a play-off. Sweden's Glenn Nyberg is the referee, with Spain's Guillermo Cuadra Fernández on VAR.

Team news

According to the Serbian and Turkish press, Beşiktaş striker Vlahović has a problem with the hamstring in his right leg and needs about ten days to recover, so he misses all four games in September and October. Up to Wednesday 23 September the Serbian federation had issued no statement. He has 16 goals in 41 caps. Along with him and Mitrović, Nikola Milenković is also injured and out of the squad. Frosinone's Aleksa Terzić, who had been reported injured, then completed a full training session according to the Serbian press, and Young Boys' Stefan Bukinac, called up as his replacement, has stayed with the squad. Dušan Tadić of NEC, now 37, is back in the national team after more than two years.

Greece are without captain Tasos Bakasetas, Rota, Giannoulis, Hatzidiakos and Konstantelias, none of whom are in the squad. Everyone took part in the final session at Rentis on Tuesday 22 September with no problems reported, and the squad flew to Belgrade on Wednesday 23 September.

Serbia vs Greece predicted line-ups

No Serbia XI holds up: Paunović does not reveal his formations and there is no full preview to go on. The Serbian press expect Luka Jović of AEK Athens, the Greek champions, to lead the line, with Anderlecht's Mihajlo Cvetković, Braga's Jovan Milošević and Seattle's Dejan Joveljić the other options.

Greece also have just one full prediction, to be treated with caution: a 4-2-3-1 of Tzolakis; Vagiannidis, Koulierakis, Mavropanos, Tsimikas; Zafeiris, Mouzakitis; Karetsas, Douvikas, Tzolis; Pavlidis. Wednesday's Greek press, however, say Jovanović has still to pick his goalkeeper from Sevilla's Vlachodimos, Hull City's Tzolakis, newly promoted to the Premier League, and Lazio's Christos Mandas, all first choice for their clubs. Up front he could pair two of Pavlidis, Douvikas and Ioannidis, with Tetteh another option out wide. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.

Head-to-head and form

Since Serbia began playing as an independent nation in 2006, the records show only two meetings, both of them friendlies: Greece won 1-0 on 11 August 2010 with a goal from Salpingidis, and Serbia won 2-0 in Crete on 18 November 2014, through Radosav Petrović and Gudelj.

Serbia ended World Cup qualifying with two wins, 3-1 in Andorra and 2-1 against Latvia, and three defeats: 5-0 at home and 2-0 away to England, and 1-0 at home to Albania. They have played four friendlies in 2026 and won one, 2-1 against Saudi Arabia, and lost 3-0 to Spain and to Cape Verde and 5-1 to Mexico. On 18 September Paunović confirmed he had offered to resign after the defeats in early summer: “Tačno je da sam ponudio ostavku” (It is true that I offered my resignation). Greece lost three games in a row to Denmark and Scotland, then finished qualifying with a 3-2 win over Scotland and a 0-0 draw with Belarus. This year they have lost friendlies 1-0 to Paraguay and to Italy, in Heraklion on 7 June, and drawn 2-2 in Sweden.

Our Serbia vs Greece prediction

Our call is no more than four goals, confidence 7 out of 10. Eight of the two sides' last ten competitive games finished with four goals or fewer, the two previous meetings produced one goal and two, and Serbia are without Mitrović and, according to the Serbian press, Vlahović. There are six Serie A players in the Serbia squad, including Napoli's Vanja Milinković-Savić, AC Milan's Strahinja Pavlović and Inter's Aleksandar Stanković, and three in the Greece squad: Roma's Konstantinos Koulierakis, Lazio's Mandas and Como's Tasos Douvikas. Every game 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.