This paper examines challenges and opportunities for incorporating Global Education (GE) and/or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into teacher education in the Visegrad countries (Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary) participating in the research project “Teachers for a Sustainable Future”, funded by the International Visegrad Fund. It also outlines the state of GE and/or ESD in these countries’ teacher education systems. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study used individual semi-structured interviews conducted in several higher education institutions in each country. The respondents were academic teachers training future teachers and individuals in managerial positions responsible for academic teaching. The second research method was document analysis of publicly available institutional data, such as mission statements, sustainability strategies, and course descriptions. Findings reveal both common and country-specific barriers at institutional, local, and national levels, as well as enabling factors like available teaching resources and committed educators. However, reliance on individual motivation and efforts without systemic support risks burnout and limits impact. Tensions between economic priorities, opportunities for advocacy and the need to protect ecological values also emerged as critical challenges in every country. The study underscores the need for systematic development of GE/ESD in teacher training and actionable policy recommendations to advance GE/ESD across the Visegrad region. Finally, the paper discusses the position of GE in the V4 countries against the backdrop of democratic backsliding and illiberalism observed in Slovakia and Hungary (Vachudova 2020) contrasted by the seeming “return to Europe” and liberal democracy in Poland and partly in Czechia. In this sense, the paper also attempts to provide a comparative look at how GE is perceived and approached by the respondents and in the analyzed documents of the four surveyed countries. This will permit us to evaluate whether the arrival of more “liberal” governments in V4 can signify a critical juncture for GE or whether GE still remains on the margins of political interests despite the seemingly more positive approach towards many of the themes GE tends to discuss traditionally.

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