Turkey vs Hungary

Rams Park is the venue as Turkey and Hungary go head-to-head in the first leg of their UEFA Nations League playoff tie.

Turkey missed out on the second consecutive Nations League promotion by an inch as a disastrous 3-1 loss to Montenegro condemned them to this promotion/relegation playoff tie. That defeat marked Turkey’s first failure in six post-Euro 2024 matches (W3, D2) – three of which featured both teams on the scoresheet and 4+ goals. As the unseeded team in the draw, they host the first leg and can take heart from a decent-looking six-game unbeaten run on home soil (W4, D2) dating back to March 2023. However, Hungary’s visit could knock the Crescent Stars down from this run, considering they’ve won none of the last five H2Hs (D1, L4), losing both legs without scoring when the two nations shared the stage in the 2020/21 Nations League campaign. 

In the meantime, Hungary fought valiantly in a highly competitive Group A3 but eventually had to settle for a third-place finish behind Germany and the Netherlands (W1, D3, L2). Therefore, they must navigate this dreaded playoff tie to secure a third consecutive season at the Nations League’s top table. Despite being heavily beaten by countries, the Magyars should take this trip in high spirits, knowing they last suffered successive away defeats in the Nations League in October 2018. Meanwhile, claiming a first-leg lead would see Hungary win back-to-back away H2Hs for the first time in nearly a century.