Group H leaders Bosnia-Herzegovina will host rock-bottom San Marino on Saturday, as their World Cup qualifying quest continues.

After back-to-back wins in March, Bosnia aim to keep their early advantage at the top, with only one team to go through automatically.

Match preview

Successive victories - in Romania, then on home turf against Cyprus - have put Bosnia in control of Group H heading into the second slate of fixtures.

Seeking their second World Cup qualification as an independent state - and the first since 2014 - they may lead Romania, but Austria now join the fray, having been engaged in the UEFA Nations League playoffs in the spring.

So, the Dragons must try to claim maximum points again this weekend - ideally while boosting their goal tally.

Head coach Sergej Barbarez has been in charge for just over a year, initially coming under scrutiny for overseeing six defeats from eight games before the start of 2025.

Having now turned a corner, beating San Marino twice is essential: Bosnia will meet the minnows in both of their next two qualifiers, either side of Tuesday's friendly with Slovenia.

The countries' only previous clashes came on the road towards Germany 2006, when Bosnia won both games by an aggregate score of 6-1, and a similar outcome is expected again.

By contrast with their hosts, San Marino have suffered consecutive defeats to start their latest World Cup qualifying campaign - losing 2-1 to Cyprus and 5-0 to Romania.

That followed the tiny microstate's historic first-ever competitive wins and promotion to the UEFA Nations League's third tier, bringing them back down to earth with a bump.

Roberto Cevoli's men may be bound for last place in Group H, but there is still a chance they will earn a playoff spot via the backdoor Nations League route, regardless of how they perform over the next few months.

Perhaps their main aim is to avoid losing all of their matches, as they did in the last five campaigns - but defying Bosnia in Zenica seems a long shot.

In 164 qualifiers for the World Cup and the Euros, La Serenissima have still never won, with their most recent draw coming at home to Estonia 11 years ago.

Bosnia-Herzegovina World Cup Qualifying - Europe form:

Bosnia-Herzegovina form (all competitions):

San Marino World Cup Qualifying - Europe form:

San Marino form (all competitions):

Team News

Bosnia-Herzegovina boss Sergej Barbarez has named a 26-man squad, again led by veteran skipper Edin Dzeko, who should win his 141st cap on Saturday.

However, established stars such as Sead Kolasinac, Rade Krunic and Sheffield United defender Anel Ahmedhodzic all miss out - the latter recently stepped aside from international duty for personal reasons.

With Kolasinac sidelined by an ACL injury suffered in April, either Amar Dedic or Nail Omerovic may have to fill in at left-back.

Meanwhile, most of San Marino's hopes rest on Nicola Nanni, who scored twice during the visitors' successful League C campaign last year.

Nicko Sensoli netted the goal against Liechtenstein that earned their first competitive win, and the teenage Tre Fiori striker is also in contention to start.

Most Sammarinese players ply their trade on home turf, but Sassuolo Under-19 twins Tommaso Benvenuti and Giacomo Benvenuti both featured in March. Former captain Matteo Vitaioli has been left out.

Bosnia-Herzegovina possible starting lineup: Vasilj; Malic, Barisic, Radeljic, Omerovic; Sunjic, Tahirovic; Hajradinovic, Gigovic, Dedic; Dzeko

San Marino possible starting lineup: Amici; G. Benvenuti, Cevoli, T. Benvenuti, Tosi; Contadini, A. Golinucci, Capicchioni, Zannoni, Berardi; Nanni

We say: Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-0 San Marino

Continuing their impressive start to qualifying, Bosnia-Herzegovina can ease past San Marino at Stadion Bilino Polje.

The hosts are a couple of classes above their improving visitors, who will simply try to keep the score down.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Jonathan O'Shea

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