Celje v Maribor — prediction, stats and goal analysis

1. SNL · Saturday, 1 August 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 59% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals59%41%Over
Over 3.5 goals32%68%no pick
Both teams to score54%46%Yes

The result model puts Celje at 60%, the draw at 24% and Maribor at 16%, from expected goals of 1.76 and 0.78.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. 1. SNL has produced over 2.5 goals in 64% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Celje have 1 in 1 this season (1 of 1 at home), Maribor 1 in 2 (0 of 1 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 66% and 63%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 1 and 2 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 67% and 61%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 64%.

Head to head. These sides have met 12 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 58%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 64%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 47%, from expected goals of 1.76 for Celje and 0.78 for Maribor. Folding in 30% of that view gives 59%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Celje1100%100%100%
Maribor250%0%0%

Head to head

4 Apr 26Celje 1–0 MariborU2.5
1 Feb 26Maribor 3–3 CeljeO2.5
27 Sept 25Celje 3–0 MariborO2.5
20 Jul 25Maribor 1–2 CeljeO2.5
7 May 25Maribor 1–1 CeljeU2.5
8 Feb 25Celje 1–2 MariborO2.5

More: Celje season stats · Maribor season stats · 1. SNL table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.