Leaderboard
How to playFREE LIVE FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS
See live & upcoming matchesIsrael have conceded six goals and scored just one in their last two UEFA Nations League matches, and that collapse is the single most alarming number either side brings into Thursday's game. Israel face Kosovo in League B, Group 3 of the UEFA Nations League, on Thursday, 1 October 2026, kicking off at 19:45 BST at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, where Israel have been playing their home matches throughout this campaign.
Ran Ben Shimon's side lost 3-1 away to Austria on 24 September, then followed it up three days later with a 3-0 home defeat to Ireland. Two games, six goals conceded, one scored. Neither result came against a side outside their own group, so there's no excuse to find in the standard of opposition. A team that has shipped three in back-to-back matches arrives at this one needing its defence to hold, not just its attack to fire.
Here's where the number gets tested. Austria didn't just beat Israel 3-1 on 24 September - three days later they beat Kosovo 3-1 too. The same opponent, the same scoreline, against both teams in this fixture within the same international window. Kosovo had already banked a 1-0 win over Ireland earlier in the window, while Israel followed their own Austria defeat by losing again, 0-3, to the same Ireland side. Judged against a common opponent, Kosovo's September reads better than Israel's.
Muriqi remains Kosovo's captain and focal point, with 19 Nations League goal involvements for the country to his name. That reliance has been tested elsewhere this year - a 2-1 loss to Czechia in May and a wild 4-3 defeat away to Slovakia in March showed Kosovo can be got at defensively too - but a 3-0 win over Andorra in June and that narrow victory over Ireland in September point to a side capable of seeing games out when it matters. Franco Foda's Kosovo have scored in every one of the results in this run.
Israel
Kosovo
