The European Championship playoffs have never been closer than now, via the Nations League C, but we have to wait for today's draw in Brussels (18 p.m.), as well as the matches to be played in the fall of this year.
However, the very fact that our football team "fell" into a weaker, third-ranked division in the youngest UEFA representative competition, that it was able to make it to the playoffs, and that it found itself in the seeded position in the draw, gives the team Mirko Vučinić chances - to hope and to believe...
Whether they will make it through - we'll see when the time comes, these are the teams of our level, with whom we can probably play and win.
Montenegro will only be in one of the four groups C of the Nations League, and if it wins first place in the four-team competition, it will be in the playoffs for the 2028 European Championship, regardless of the outcome of the qualifiers that will be played next year, in 2027.
Ahead of the draw, which will take place today at 18 pm in Brussels, our team is in the first pot, which also includes Iceland, Albania and Kazakhstan. These are the teams that Montenegro will not be able to meet.
And who can it be with?
It will be one team from the second pot, which includes Finland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Armenia.
The Finns and Slovaks are teams with whom we do not have a positive record - Finland, for example, beat us twice in the 2022 Nations League, both times 2:0, while the Slovak team, which played in the knockout phase of Euro 2024, was seconds away from eliminating England. In the recent World Cup qualifiers, the Slovaks also defeated Germany at home and are, without a doubt, the team "to avoid".
Bulgarians and Armenians would, at least traditionally, be better options, despite the fact that our team lost both times in Yerevan, in the 2017 and 2023 World Cup qualifiers in friendly matches. Bulgaria is an old rival of our team, which Montenegro defeated both times in the 2024 European Championship qualifiers.
Belarus, the Faroe Islands, Cyprus and Estonia are the three teams threatening from the third pot. It is clear who Vučinić and his chosen ones should avoid, the Faroese gave us four pieces in Torshavn just a few months ago.
Pot four includes Moldova and San Marino, as well as the winners of the play-off matches between Latvia and Gibraltar and Luxembourg and Malta, scheduled for March.
And there are desirable and undesirable ones, Luxembourg, for example, celebrated under Gorizia in the 2020 Nations League.
In the previous edition, the "Falcons" finished last in Group B of the Nations League, competing against Turkey, Iceland and Wales, and were relegated to the lower tier, League C.
The new edition of the Nations League begins in September - four rounds will be played from September 24 to October 6. The remaining two rounds are scheduled for November, while the play-offs will be played in March 2027.
LEAGUE C
The first hat: Iceland, Albania, Montenegro and Kazakhstan.
Another hat: Finland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Armenia.
The third hat: Belarus, Faroe Islands, Cyprus and Estonia.
Fourth hat: Moldova, San Marino and the winners of the duels between Gibraltar and Latvia, or Malta and Luxembourg.
Bonus video:
