After Slovenia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, it's time for our first trip to Croatia.
When it comes to rivals from the former Yugoslavia, Montenegrin football players will close the circle against the best and most successful national team from this region.
"Falcons" and "Firemen" will meet in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, with the first match to be played on September 8th in Croatia.
It is not yet known in which city, but since the Croatian Football Federation announced today that they will welcome the Czech Republic to Osijek in June, it is much more likely that they will play against Montenegro in Split, at the legendary "Poljud".
"Slobodna Dalmacija" announced something similar shortly before it was known where Croatia and the Czech Republic would play.
"It will be interesting to see whether Croatia will welcome the Czech Republic to 'Poljud' in June or perhaps Montenegro in September, one of the strongest opponents on paper," the aforementioned media outlet wrote.
Of course, Zagreb and "Maksimir" are also options, as well as "Rujevica" in Rijeka, but since Croatia has recently regularly welcomed some of its stronger opponents to Split, it seems more likely that this time it will be Montenegro - ahead of the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar.
It will certainly be interesting to see where Montenegro will host Croatia on November 17th in the final round of qualifiers, but hopefully by then our largest stadium near Gorica will finally get the pitch the national team deserves.
Bonus video:
