Nations League | Playoffs A/B | 1st Leg

Mar 20, 2025 at 5pm UK

Ataturk Olimpiyat Stadi (Istanbul)

Turkey vs Hungary

Match preview

Turkey are in the promotion/relegation play-offs after winning three, drawing two and losing one of their six matches to finish second, just one point behind group winners Wales.

Indeed, Turkey went into the final matchday as leaders, but a 3-1 defeat to Montenegro allowed Wales to snatch pole position and send Vincenzo Montella's side into a play-off against Hungary.

The Crescent Stars are still in with a chance of promotion to the 2022-23 Nations League, having moved up from League C.

Turkey, who are hoping to reach League A for the first time, boast a strong home record in the competition, having avoided defeat in front of their own fans in each of their last eight Nations League matches (W5, D3).

However, their last home Nations League defeat came against Hungary in September 2020, when they lost 1-0 to a late Dominik Szoboszlai goal.

That made it five matches without a win against Hungary (D1, L4) since a 3-0 win in Euro 2007 qualifying in September.

Hungary are in the play-offs after winning one, drawing three and losing two of their six group matches.

They bounced back from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Germany to take five points from their next three games, before going down to a 4-0 defeat to the Netherlands on matchday five.

Dominik Szoboszlai's late penalty earned Hungary a 1-1 draw with Germany in their final group match, leaving them four points clear of fourth-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and three points clear of the top two.

The Magyars will now have to overcome Turkey over two legs if they are to extend their stay in Group A for a third successive Nations League campaign.

Hungary will be looking for an attacking display on Thursday, having failed to score more than once in eight of their last nine internationals.

The visitors will take confidence from the fact that they have kept their last three meetings with Turkey clean sheets, including a 1-0 victory in March 2024.

Recent Performance

Turkey Nations League form:DWWWDL

Hungary Nations League form:LDDWLD

Team News

Turkey are without the injured quartet of Altay Bayindir, Caglar Soyuncu, Ferdi Kadioglu and Enes Unal.

Defender Merih Demiral and striker Arda Guler will serve one-match suspensions after picking up their second yellow cards of the Nations League in Turkey's loss to Montenegro in November.

Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu will wear the captain's armband, with the 31-year-old just five games away from a century of international appearances.

For the visitors, Marco Rossi has opted to leave out the experienced Adam Nagy, who recently returned to action for Spezia after a short spell on the sidelines.

The Hungarian coach has named four uncapped players in goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi, defender Attila Osvath and midfield duo Alex Toth and Balint Vecsei.

Szoboszlai will be back in action for the first time since Liverpool's EFL Cup final defeat, and the Hungary captain will be looking to add to the three goals he scored in the 2024-25 Nations League.

Possible starting lineup

Turkey possible starting lineup:

Gunok; Muldur, Ayhan, Bardakci, Elmali; Kokcu, Calhanoglu; Akgun, Yildiz, Yilmaz; Akturkoglu

Hungary possible starting lineup:

Dibusz; Fiola, Orban, Dardai; Nego, Schafer, Nikitscher, Nagy; Szoboszlai, Sallai; Varga