Will the Czechs do a little better this time?

There have been no surprises in Group L of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers for the time being. As expected, the two underdogs, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands, conceded a defeat in the opener. At least the Faroese made life difficult for the favored Czechs and only just lost 1-2 away from home. Nevertheless, the betting tip for Gibraltar against the Czech Republic is that the guests will win much more convincingly this time, with the odds in their favor.

The Gibraltar national football team finally went down 1:3 in Montenegro and was thus brought back down to earth with a very appealing series of seven consecutive international matches without defeat (two wins, five draws). In any case, when it comes to the game between Gibraltar and the Czech Republic, it should be noted that the footballing pygmy’s unbeaten streak was helped by opponents such as Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino.

Meanwhile, the Czech national football team has not lost in six international matches (four wins, two draws) and has had to solve somewhat more demanding tasks during this period with Ukraine, Albania, Georgia and, most recently, the Faroe Islands. Even if it took a double from Patrik Schick (Leverkusen) last Thursday to avoid stumbling against the Faroe Islanders.

Gibraltar – Statistics & current form

The Gibraltar national football team was accepted as the 211th member of FIFA in May 2016 and is now on its third attempt to qualify for a World Cup for the first time. However, the chances for the football minnow are not all that good, because the national team of the British overseas territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula lacks big names across the board. At least for now.

With James Scanlon, an 18-year-old Gibraltarian talent is currently getting closer and closer to the first team of Manchester United. Most recently, the shooting star was even on the bench with the professionals in the Europa League clash between the Red Devils and Real Sociedad. Should he make the breakthrough, it would also help the Gibraltar national team. The up-and-coming star already scored in the Nations League in 2024/25 in a 2-2 draw against Liechtenstein, making him the youngest Gibraltar scorer of all time.

Gibraltar after an unbeaten streak with an opening loss

Speaking of the Nations League: Gibraltar is still dreaming of returning to League C after an unbeaten season in Group D1 with San Marino and Liechtenstein (one win, three draws). To do so, they will play relegation matches against Latvia in almost exactly a year. Until then, “Los Llanis” hope to stay in the running in the World Cup qualifiers. However, the fact that this will once again be an extremely difficult undertaking was already evident from the opening game, which was lost 1-3 to Montenegro. It was the first defeat after seven international matches in a row (two wins, five draws), but in most of those matches they faced smaller nations.

Even now, the odds for Gibraltar against the Czech Republic speak volumes against the hosts, who also have to play this home game at the Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal, because their actual home stadium, the Victoria Stadium, is currently being modernized. ODDSET is even offering odds of 61.00 for a “home win” by the football minnow.

Gibraltar predicted line-up:
Banda – Britto, Annesley, Lopes, Ronan – Bent – Richards, Scanlon, Barr, Jessop – Hmidi

Czech Republic – statistics & current form

The Czech Republic national football team made their European Championship debut in 1996 and went on to secure second place in the tournament. Since then, the “Reprezentace” have become a regular at European Championships, although last summer in Germany they were already eliminated in the group stage with only one out of nine possible points from their three games against Portugal, Georgia and Turkey.

At the World Cup, however, they have only qualified for the finals once before, in 2006 in Germany. Most recently, the Czechs failed to qualify four times in a row. For the 2022 tournament in Qatar, they reached the playoff round against Sweden. Expectations for the 2026 tournament, for which 16 places will be awarded to UEFA teams for the first time, are correspondingly high. Croatia is certainly a big hurdle in Group L. But the Czech team is naturally the favorite against Montenegro, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar.

The Czechs are in great form going into the second qualifying match

But in the opening match, the former European vice-champion almost didn’t escape an embarrassment. After a long 1-0 lead against the Faroe Islands, the football minnow took advantage of its first big chance in the 83rd minute to equalize, before match winner Patrik Schick (Leverkusen) scored the 2-1 final score just two minutes later. Thus, the Czechs got off lightly, but prolonged the recent upward trend in the Nations League, where they won Group B1 to advance to League A.

Overall, the “Reprezentace” has not been defeated in six international matches in a row (four wins, two draws), which is why the tip for an away win for the strong guests from the landlocked Central European country against Gibraltar against the Czech Republic is likely to be without alternative. Especially if Patrik Schick continues his recent run. The 29-year-old has already scored 22 goals in 43 international appearances after his brace against the Faroe Islands, and is thus still on the trail of Czech record scorer Jan Koller.

Expected line-up for Czech Republic:
Kovar – Zeleny, Krejci, Holes, Coufal – Sulc, Cerv, Soucek, Cerny – Chory, Schick

Gibraltar – Czech Republic Head to head / H2H record

This will be the first time the two nations have met in an international match. Consequently, there is no head-to-head data available that could influence our prediction for or against Gibraltar v Czech Republic.

Gibraltar v Czech Republic prediction

In Gibraltar against the Czech Republic, the betting odds of the best bookmakers are clearly in favor of the guests, who had a hard time against the Faroe Islands on Thursday but have been unbeaten in six internationals overall (four wins, two draws). Meanwhile, the Gibraltar team, after a good Nations League season, suffered a clear 1-3 defeat against Montenegro at the start of the World Cup qualifiers. It is hard to imagine that they will be able to get a point against the Czechs, who, along with Croatia, are favorites in Group L.

The Czechs bring a few difference players to the British overseas territory, which should ultimately be noticeable on the scoreboard. Not only do we expect an away win for the Reprezentace, but we also expect it to be a little more convincing than in the 2-1 win over the Faroe Islands.