Belarus vs Scotland Prediction for 9 September 2025 - Football

🔊 Will Scotland secure their first win in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers? Their opponent, Belarus, seems more than suitable for this task. Despite being the nominal hosts, the match will take place on neutral ground. Belarus will have to rely solely on their defensive stability. In their last game against Greece, their defense was, frankly, far from perfect. However, not too long ago, the "White Wings" were capable of a well-organized "bus" in front of their goal—conceding only 4 goals in 6 matches during the Nations League. Will they park it again this time, or will Scotland relinquish control as they did against Denmark? We’ll break down all the scenarios in our editorial's prediction.

Head-to-Head

📊 Belarus have never qualified for a major tournament in their history. As a result, the national teams have only faced each other in qualifiers. In fact, their last encounter took place nearly 20 years ago.

Belarus Team Overview

Until recently, the Belarus national team could have been dubbed the true ambassadors of draws. For instance, in the last Nations League, they racked up as many as four draws. While a hard-fought 0-0 against Northern Ireland was commendable, a similar result against Luxembourg raised questions about head coach Carlos Alos. However, there were no such doubts in their opening World Cup 2026 qualifier, which ended in a decisive victory for Greece (5-1). The "White Wings" not only ceded territorial advantage (36% to 64% possession) to the Greeks, who aren't particularly known for their positional play, but also allowed them to bombard their goal with 30 shots, 15 of which were on target.

The game scenario in Piraeus allowed goalkeeper Pavel Pavlyuchenko to showcase his best qualities. Despite the heavy scoreline, he made 10 saves and earned the highest average rating among the Belarusians. Another standout was one of the few foreign-based players in the "White Wings" squad—Pavel Zabelin of Cyprus's Akritas. The defender was the most active among the outfield players in his penalty area, recording 2 interceptions and 8 clearances—the best figures on the team.

Scotland Team Overview

The Celts had a disappointing run at Euro 2024, securing just one point in a group featuring Hungary, Switzerland, and Germany. This was despite a strong qualification campaign where they finished only four points behind Spain and were six points clear of Norway. Their performance in the Nations League was also respectable, finishing third behind Portugal and Croatia. However, they failed to stay in Division A after losing to Greece with scores of 1-0 and 0-3 in the knockout matches. In their opening World Cup 2026 qualifier, Steve Clarke's side put on a commendable performance against one of the group favorites, Denmark. Despite the 0-0 final score, Scotland held their own playing defensively and created a similar amount of attacking opportunities, with shots on target at 1-2 and an xG of 0.69 compared to 1.22.

From the encounter with Denmark, the midfield and defensive lines stood out significantly. Scott McTominay showcased his fighting spirit by winning 7 out of 13 ground duels. The standout performer, however, was center-back John Souttar from Rangers, who dominated aerial battles with an 80% success rate, made two interceptions, and completed nine clearances.

Latest news

Belarus

📝 Goalkeeper Pavel Pavlyuchenko has caught the attention of Russian clubs. Previously, he played abroad for Polish side Termalica and Uzbek club Pakhtakor, but currently, he is with Maxline in the Belarusian Premier League. Moscow's Torpedo and several Russian Premier League teams are interested in signing the 27-year-old shot-stopper. His contract with Maxline expires in six months, and he is open to continuing his career in the RPL.

💰 Belarus ranks 97th in the FIFA rankings, marking an improvement of one position compared to the last update. The total squad value is estimated at €12.40 million, with an average player age of a solid 27.1 years. The players with the highest transfer values include Fyodor Lapoukhov (€1.2 million, Crvena Zvezda), Valery Gromyko (€1.2 million, Kairat), and Trofim Melnichenko (€1 million, Porto).

Scotland

🎙 "First and foremost, we need to respect the Belarus national team and the conditions of playing behind closed doors in Hungary. The match will be entirely different from the one against Denmark. Nevertheless, we must approach the game with the same level of focus," stated Scotland's head coach Steve Clarke regarding their upcoming opponent.

💰 Scotland are currently ranked 47th in the FIFA rankings, though they were 44th before the Nations League. Their squad is valued at €218.7 million, which is 172 times higher than their upcoming opponents. The most valuable players in the squad are Serie A representatives: Scott McTominay (€50 million, Napoli), Lewis Ferguson (€28 million, Bologna), and Billy Gilmour (€20 million, Napoli).

⚽️ Goal Prediction

⚽️ Goal Prediction

Both national teams played defensively in their previous matches. In the upcoming head-to-head clash, most of the action is likely to unfold on the Belarusian side of the pitch. However, whether Scotland can dominate the game remains uncertain. On one hand, they have skilled playmakers, but on the other, they rarely deliver high-scoring performances at the national level. They've scored under 2.5 goals in 8 of their last 9 World Cup and Euro qualifiers. Belarus has seen between 0 to 2 goals in their last 5 games. Given this, a total under 2.5 goals seems a reasonable prediction.

🚩 Corner Prediction

Belarus boasts a defense line with players over 190cm tall: Pavel Zabeylin, Egor Parkhomenko, Zakhar Volkov, Sergey Politevich, and Alexander Martynovich. They all join set-pieces in the opponent's area whenever possible. In their recent match against Greece, this approach didn't yield goals but did result in 7 corners. The Scots resemble Belarus's previous opponents in style—they typically don't play a positional attack, allowing even lower-tier teams some opportunities. We believe the nominal hosts will capitalize on this and earn over 3.5 corners.

The odds for the Belarus national team have dropped significantly compared to their previous match, but they remain quite high. The nominal hosts are expected to spend much of the match defending, and their previous encounter with Greece showed this strategy's limitations. Belarus are dealing with some defensive absences, which have noticeably impacted their gameplay. In contrast, Scotland's defense has been outstanding, and the upcoming game will depend on their midfield and attacking lines, where they boast several quality playmakers. Belarus's record in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers is dismal, with eight consecutive losses. We doubt they will reverse this trend against a solid Scottish side—the match is unlikely to be thrilling, but the visitors should be able to secure a routine 2-0 victory. The most logical outcome of the match would be a Scotland win.