Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy Nations League preview: where to watch, what they say

Bosnia and Herzegovina face Italy in UEFA Nations League Group A1 in Sarajevo on Wednesday 18 November at 20:45 CET.

Where to watch the game on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Nations League broadcast partner(s) here

As they stand

• Bosnia and Herzegovina have been relegated.

• Italy will reach the finals if they beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, or if they draw and the Netherlands do not beat Poland, or if the other game is drawn.

Previous meetings

• The sides drew 1-1 in Italy on Matchday 1, Rome-based Edin Džeko having given the visitors the lead. Italy had won both of the teams' previous competitive meetings, home and away in UEFA EURO 2000 qualifying.

• This game is the countries' first encounter in Sarajevo since they met for the first time in a 1996 friendly. That remains the Bosnians' only win against Italy to date: W1 D1 L2.

What the coaches say

Adnan Čustović, Bosnia and Herzegovina assistant coach: "[Italy] always play to win and they haven't lost in a long time. We know a tough match awaits us. The Dutch and Poles have not found a way to neutralize them, so it will be difficult for us. They had some squad problems due to coronavirus, but the new players they drafted in were also very good. They are very good tactically, and they also have quality individuals."

Alberico Evani, Italy assistant coach: "We know Bosnia are an excellent team. In the last three games against them we've won twice and drawn the other, but they always caused us a lot of problems. We must be superior as a unit in order to win the game. We've been working on this project for two years, there have been big steps forwards but we expect to improve far more than this. We've all made sacrifices to reach the top of this group and it'd be a huge shame if we didn't finish the job by reaching the final four. We know that we've got to earn it."

Next up

The UEFA Nations League final tournament takes place from 6–10 October 2021. Teams will return to competitive action in spring 2021 in the European Qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.