League Opening round on Saturday at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi.

They are both in action for the first time since facing each other in Euro 2024

qualifiers group stage in each of the last campaign for a chance to get promoted from League B Group 1 alongside Ukraine and Albania.

Georgia played independently in the summer as a nation for the first time in their history and many expected little of them when they faced the Euro 2024

qualifiers where they had the lowest ranking, but qualified for the knockout stages of the competition.

Willy Sagnol’s men collected four points in three group stage matches, including all threes in a crucial 2-0 victory over Portugal and moved into the last 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.

The fairytale run was stopped by Spain who thrashed Georgia 4-1 but the Crusaders were respectable in their exit from the tournament in Germany and Sagnol is now hoping to do well in the next Nations

League.

With FIFA ranking of 70, Georgia is one of the gifted football playing nation, this has seen them gain promotion to League B of the nation’s league in the 2022/23 season where they have won five and draw only one of the available six matches to dominance the group comprising of Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Gibraltar.

Spain, Georgia have only lost three of their last 11 internationals in all competitions, two of those coming against Spain while Saturday’s host nation has lost just one of their last 13 at home since November of last year against Czech Republic.

It is a far cry from reaching the quarterfinals of the European Championship three years ago to ending at the bottom of Euro

2024 group with only one point to their name.

They managed just one point from a 1-1 tie with none other than Georgia, when Patrik Schick’s goal in the second half offset

Georges Mikautadze’s penalty in the early half. They also suffered 2-1 losses to Portugal and Turkey.

Ivan Hasek, who took over as head coach in January, led the Czech Republic to victory in all four of his games before Euro 2024.

Now, he must rekindle the team’s enthusiasm as they attempt to get off to a strong start in the Nations League.

Czechia, who were demoted from League A of the 2022-23 Nations League after losing four of their six group matches and finishing behind Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland, were ranked 47th in the world by FIFA, having dropped 13 spots since the end of Euro 2024.

With the exception of Euro 2024 matchups, Hasek’s team has only won three of their previous 13 away international matches.

They did, however, defeat Norway 2-1 in their most recent away game in March, so they will be looking to improve their away performance when they take on Georgia on

Saturday.

Giorgi Mamardashvili, the new acquisition for Liverpool, is anticipated to start in goal on Saturday. The loaned player returned to Valencia and produced an incredible 29 saves at Euro 2024, more than twice as many as his closest opponents.

Georges Mikautadze, one of six players to split the Euro 2024 Golden Boot with three goals, currently plays for Lyon in Ligue 1 and is expected to start in Georgia’s offensive line-up. Other possible first-team selections include Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a star for Napoli, and captain Guram Kashia, who has 117 caps.