The Macedonian national team will use the free FIFA September window for a test match against Asian giant Saudi Arabia.

photo by wasalt.sa: Saudi Arabia in 2024

What was rumored back in June, that Macedonia would play a friendly match against Saudi Arabia on neutral ground in the Czechia, is finally being made official.

The FFM confirmed today that the match has been definitively scheduled. It will be played on 4th September at 17:00 CET at the Viktoria stadium in Prague. It is a small stadium with a capacity of only 2,799 spectators in the Žižkov neighborhood, home of second division side Viktoria Žižkov.

Macedonia is idle in Round 5 of the World Cup qualifiers, which will continue three days later at home against outsider Liechtenstein in Skopje. Saudi Arabia will be preparing in Czechia, where they have long scheduled a match with the home team (8th September) in the picturesque town of Hradec Králové.

Macedonia and Saudi Arabia have faced twice so far: in 2001 we played 1:1 at their home in Riyadh, and in 2022 we lost 1:0 on neutral ground in Abu Dhabi.

Past encounters:

01.08.2001 1:1 draw (match report)
22.10.2022 0:1 defeat (match report)

The popular Green Falcons are considered one of the best national teams in Asia. They have been champions of this continent three times, and have played in the World Cup six times, including the last two in Qatar (2022) and Russia (2018). In Qatar, they were the only ones to defeat Argentina, who later won the title.

They are preparing for the final phase of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup after failing in the previous round, finishing in 3rd place, behind Japan and Australia. Now they will play against Indonesia and Iraq in October to catch the last train for direct qualification.