Cyprus will be expecting to make a winning start to their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign when they kick off their Group H challenge at home to San Marino on Friday night.

The hosts were last in action in November 2024, suffering a 4-1 defeat to Romania in the UEFA Nations League, while San Marino will enter the match off the back of a 3-1 success over Liechtenstein, which earned them promotion to the third tier.

Cyprus have never qualified for the finals of a World Cup, and they only managed to win once during their qualification campaign for the 2022 competition, losing seven of their 10 matches.

The national side have actually won just 16 of their 124 World Cup qualification matches throughout history, losing 93 times in the process, but it is not impossible to imagine them challenging for a potential top-two spot in this group.

Akis Mantzios took charge of Cyprus at the start of 2025, so this will represent the 55-year-old's first game at the helm, and it would be a huge surprise if they were unable to open their Group H campaign with a win.

Cyprus were beaten 4-1 by Romania in their last fixture in the Nations League in November 2024, which saw them finish third in Group 2 of League C on six points, with Lithuania the team being relegated.

The hosts have lost four of their last five matches, but they were victorious in their last game in front of their own supporters in November 2024, beating Lithuania 2-1.

San Marino, meanwhile, recorded a huge three points in their last match against Liechtenstein towards the end of 2024, running out 3-1 winners, with the result earning them promotion to the third tier of the Nations League for the first time.

The victory was also the team's first away from home in their history, while it proved to be the first time that they had scored more than once in a competitive match, so it was a truly remarkable result.

La Serenissima are the world's bottom-ranked team, sitting 210th in the FIFA rankings, and they have incredibly lost 199 of the 211 fixtures that they have played, making them the major underdogs in Group H.

Roberto Cevoli's side have nothing to lose as they approach this game, though, and it would be some story if the team could make it three games unbeaten, having also drawn 1-1 with Gibraltar in November 2024.

San Marino have tackled Cyprus on seven previous occasions throughout history, suffering seven defeats, with their last meeting coming in a friendly in June 2024, with Cyprus running out 4-1 winners.

Cyprus possible starting lineup:

D Demitriou; Laifis, Andreou, Panagiotou, Pileas; Kastanos, Artymatas, Charalampous; Loizou, Sotiriou, Pittas

San Marino possible starting lineup:

Colombo; Fabbri, Valentini, Benvenuti, Tosi; Contadini, Zannoni, Golinucci, Lazzari, Beradi; Nanni