Israel and Estonia square off at Nagyerdei Stadion in Hungary where they begin their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign in Group I on Saturday night.
Both nations are joined in Group I by Norway, Moldova and the loser of the UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie between Germany and Italy.
Match preview
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Against the backdrop of high tension caused by the ongoing conflict in Gaza and incidents of fan violence before matches, Israel suffered relegation from League A Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League in the second half of last year.
Competing in a challenging group alongside France, Italy and Belgium, the Sky-Blue and Whites lost each of their first four games by an aggregate score of 13-4, and although they eventually finished rock bottom of the group, they ended their campaign on a high, as they held France to a 0-0 draw in Paris before surprisingly beating Belgium 1-0 in their most recent fixture.
Ranked 76th in the world by FIFA, Israel are now seeking to make a strong start to 2026 World Cup qualifying. The only time that they have ever qualified for the World Cup was back in 1970, and since then they have frustratingly finished third in their group a total of five times in their last eight UEFA qualification campaigns.
Amidst the country's off-field concerns, Ran Ben Shimon's side have been playing their home matches in Hungary since November 2023, winning one, drawing one and losing four of their six games - a record that they will be keen to improve with back-to-back 'home' fixtures against Estonia and Norway up next this month.
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After enduring a 10-game winless streak in 2023, Estonia won three of their 12 internationals in 2024 (D1 L8), including two victories in the Baltic Cup which they went on to lift for a fifth time courtesy of a penalty-shootout triumph over Lithuania in the final.
Jurgen Henn's side then avoided relegation from League C Group 1 of the Nations League, although their campaign ended in underwhelming fashion as they picked up just one point and failed to score a single goal in their final three games against Sweden (0-3), Azerbaijan (0-0) and Slovakia (0-1).
Ranked 123rd in the world by FIFA, Estonia have never qualified for a major tournament in their history and they enter their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign having previously failed to win a single match across 17 qualifiers for the previous two tournaments (D2 L15).
The Blueshirts are now preparing for successive away matches against Israel and Moldova and are hoping to turn their fortunes around on the road, as they have failed to win any of their last 13 away international in 90 minutes (D3 L10), while they have won just only of their last 12 World Cup qualifiers played away from home - a 6-0 victory over Gibraltar in October 2017.
Team News
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Israel trio Miguel Vitor, Dia Saba and Dolev Haziza have all withdrawn from Ben Shimon's squad this month, with the former two pulling out due to injury.
Omri Glazer will be hoping to replace Daniel Peretz between the sticks after missing the previous international break through injury, while Roy Revivo is also back in the first-team fold and could be handed a start at left-back.
Manor Solomon, who has recorded seven goals and seven assists in 31 Championship games for title hopefuls Leeds United this season, is expected to start in attack and could be joined in the first XI by Dean David and either Liel Abada or Oscar Gloukh.
As for Estonia, 34-year-old forward Henri Anier, who plies his trade at club level with Hong Kong outfit Lee Man FC, is set to make his 100th international appearance, but he faces stern competition from Alex Tamm to lead the line.
Seventeen-year-old Patrik Kristal of FC Koln could earn his fourth international cap in an advanced midfield role, linking up with Markus Poom and Kevor Palumets in the middle of the pitch, while Arsenal's Karl Hein - on loan at Real Valladolid - is set to start in goal.
Israel possible starting lineup:
Peretz; Dasa, Nachimas, Shlomo, Goldberg, Haziza; Solomon, Abu Fani, Jaber, Gloukh; David
Estonia possible starting lineup:
Hein; Schjonning-Larsen, J. Tamm, Paskotsi, Saliste; Poom, Palumets; Yakovlev, Kristal, Sinyavskiy; A. Tamm
We say: Israel 2-0 Estonia
Israel may have struggled to grind out positive results in 'home' fixtures in Hungary, but they will fancy their chances of success against Estonia, a nation that they have previously beaten twice by an aggregate score of 5-0.
Estonia have failed to score in five of their last six matches and also looked leaky at the back towards the end of last year, so unless they improve at both ends of the pitch, they may find if difficult to prevail against the Sky-Blue and Whites this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
