Romania hosts Bosnia & Herzegovina on matchday one of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, with both sides looking to make a good start to Group H in order to maximise their chances.
Date: 21/03/2025
Location: National Arena, Bucharest
Time: 7:45pm
This will be a crucial clash in Group H, as the group itself consists of Austria, Romania, Bosnia, Cyprus and San Marino, meaning that both of these sides will expect to challenge for automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
When these two sides last met, Romania ran out as 4-1 victors on home soil back in September 2022 thanks to goals from Dennis Man, George Puscas (2) and Andrei Ratiu all got on the scoresheet, while Edin Dzeko’s goal in the 77th-minute turned out to be a mere consolation goal for Bosnia.
Romania had an entertaining Euro 2024 campaign, as they managed to initially qualify from Group I as winners with 22 points from 10 games, having won six and drawn four, seeing them finish above Switzerland, Israel, Belarus, Kosovo and Andorra. At the finals, Romania even topped Group E ahead of Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine, however, they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by the Netherlands.
As previously mentioned, in the Nations League, Romania comfortably finished as winners of League C Group 2, as they won all six matches against Kosovo, Cyprus and Lithuania.
Bosnia’s Nations League campaign saw them be relegated from League A Group 3 as they accumulated just two points from six matches, having been matched-up to face Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary.
The visitors failed to make it to Euro 2024, as they finished fifth in Group J, ahead of Liechtenstein, but, behind the likes of Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Portugal. They did qualify for the play-offs via their 2023 Nations League performance, however, they were defeated 2-1 by Ukraine.
WC Qualification Europe - Group H 
