Turkiye Vs Bulgaria LIVE Score, FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers: Calhanoglu Penalty Gives Red-Crescents Lead

Another great chance for Turkiye to double their lead, but Yildiz, despite doing well to make his way into the box and having a go, can’t keep his shot down and on target.

A fantastic chance for Bulgaria to pull the scores level, but it goes begging. Russev receives a perfect pass from Despodov and has a crack, but it crashes against the right post and goes out. Unlucky.

Meanwhile, Turkiye make a double change. Zeki Celik and Ferdi Kadioglu are off, and on come Kaan Ahyan Mert Muldur.

Turkiye have kept up the attacking pressure, with Artukoglu and Yildiz having a couple of attempts at goal, but none of them really threatening Mitov. Meanwhile, Bulgaria have a rare move forward, but Rusev’s attempt to find his teammate is blocked by the defence.

The second half is underway at Tbilisi, and Spain will look to add on their massive lead from first half. One half-time change for the visitors, with Marcos Llorente replacing Pedro Porro. Georgia also make a change, with Guram Kashia replacing Saba Goglichidze.

Turkiye have dominated the first half regulation time, but they are struggling to get that crucial insurance second goal. Just one minute of time has been added on, and it flows by. Calhanoglu’s penalty means that the Red Crescents go into the break with a goal advantage.

Half an hour of football played at Bursa, and the home side are completely dominating proceedings. 77% of the ball posession, six shots (two on target) – Bulgaria have barely had a kick of the ball. Calhanoglu has been given way too much space in the middle of the park to dictate things.

A handball in the box from Petrov gives a lifeline to Turkiye, who are awarded a penalty by the referee. Captain Calhanoglu steps up to take it, and he fires it into the back of the net, giving Mitov no chance.

Another foray into the Bulgarian box from the hosts. This time, it’s Akturkoglu who receives the ball from Yildiz and has an effort on goal, but it goes just wide of the right post.

The first shot of the match, and it falls to Turkiye. Calhanoglu floats a ball into the box from the corner flag. Bardakci outjumps his marker and heads it goalwards, but it flies just wide of the post.

Referee Benoit Bastien blows the whistle, and the match kicks off in Tbilisi. Georgia are still mathematically in the qualification race, but they need to beat the European champions tonight to keep their hopes alive. Can they do that? Stay tuned!

• Matches played: 24

• Turkiye wins: 8

• Bulgaria Wins: 10

• Draws: 6

• Bulgaria 1-6 Turkiye (2025)

• Turkiye 4-0 Bulgaria (2015)

• Bulgaria 0-2 Turkiye (2012)

• Bulgaria 3-1 Turkiye (2005)

• Turkiye 3-2 Bulgaria (1992)

Starting XI: Dimitar Mitov; Martin Georgiev, Kristian Dimitrov, Atanas Chernev, Hristiyan Petrov; Filip Krastev, Ilia Gruev, Andrian Kraev; Zdravko Dimitrov, Kiril Despodov (c), Georgi Rusev.

Bench: Aleks Bozhev (gk), Dimitar Evtimov (gk), Viktor Popov, Rosen Bozhinov, Stefan Velkov, Marin Petkov, Ivajlo Chocev, Ivan Yordanov, Kristiyan Stoyanov, Stanislav Shopov, Vladimir Nikolov, Martin Minchev.

Starting XI: Ugurcan Cakir; Zeki Celik, Merih Demiral, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Ferdi Kadioglu; Hakan Calhanoglu (c), Ismail Yuksek; Oguz Aydin, Arda Guler, Kenan Yildiz; Kerem Akturkoglu.

Bench: Mert Gunok (gk), Altay Bayindir (gk), Caglar Soyuncu, Samet Akaydin, Kaan Ayhan, Mert Muldur, Salih Ozcan, Okun Kokcu, Baris Alper Yilmaz, Atakan Karazor, Yusuf Sari, Deniz Gul.

The match kicks off at 10:30pm IST. The Turkiye vs Bulgaria, FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers Group E game will be live streamed on the Sony LIV app and website in India. It will be telecast on the Sony Sports 1 SD and HD TV channels in the country.