The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
competition contested by the senior
men's national teams of the member associations of
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
, the sport's European governing body.
The
first tournament began in September 2018. The four group winners from League A qualified for the
finals
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, played in Portugal in June 2019.
The competition largely replaces the international
friendly matches
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
previously played on the
FIFA International Match Calendar
The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar or FIFA Days) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which ...
, with European national teams engaging in more frequent competitive matches against other European national teams of comparable quality.
Adoption
In October 2013,
Norwegian Football Association
The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the Norway national football team, men's and Norway ...
President
Yngve Hallén
Yngve Hallén (born 14 March 1968) is a Norwegian sports executive who was president of the Norwegian Football Association from 2010 to 2016. He helped start the UEFA Nations League. He was elected to his position in March 2010, following Sondre ...
confirmed that talks had been held to create a third full national-team international tournament for UEFA members in addition to the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
and
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...
.
The concept of the UEFA Nations League would see all UEFA's member associations' national teams divided into a series of groups based upon a ranking formulated using their recent results, where they would be promoted and relegated to other groups according to their results within the group.
The proposed tournament would take place on dates on the
FIFA International Match Calendar
The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar or FIFA Days) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which ...
that were previously allocated for international friendlies and would not affect the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship.
In March 2014, UEFA general secretary
Gianni Infantino
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...
stated that one of the benefits of the proposal would be to help less glamorous national associations arrange games.
The
Royal Belgian Football Association
The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the ...
's general secretary
Steven Martens said that lower ranked nations would still benefit financially from the competition, as the television contract with UEFA would be centralised. The UEFA Nations League was unanimously adopted by the 54 UEFA member associations at the XXXVIII Ordinary
UEFA Congress
The UEFA Congress (french: Congrès de l'UEFA, german: UEFA-Kongress) is the supreme controlling organ of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). UEFA is the administrative body for association football and futsal in Europe, and is o ...
in
Astana
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...
on 27 March 2014.
Format
Original format
According to the approved format,
the 54 UEFA national teams were divided into four divisions (called "Leagues"):
12 teams in League A, 12 teams in League B, 14 teams in League C, and 16 teams in League D. In each league, four groups were formed (with three or four teams) and teams played each other both home and away.
Adjustment starting from 2020–21
After the completion of the first season, UEFA decided to adjust the format of the Nations League starting from the
2020–21 season. The new league structure comprised 16 teams in Leagues A, B and C and seven teams in League D.
The transition to the new format occurred by making various one-time changes after the
2018–19 season, namely the suspension of relegations in both
League A
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Leagues (band), ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full ...
and
League B
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
, the promotion of the two best teams per group in both
League C
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
and
League D
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
(instead of only one team per group), and the promotion of the best third-placed team from
League D
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
.
This change to the format followed a collective consultation process, whereby all UEFA national associations reiterated their intent to further reduce the number of friendly matches. The number of competitive matches was increased from 142 to 168, thus increasing the commercial value and viewer attractiveness of the competition. Almost all teams in the same group played their last match simultaneously with the aim of promoting fairness.
More matches were played within Leagues A and B, with the two leagues now incorporating competition between the 32 highest-ranked UEFA national associations, instead of the previous system where Leagues A and B together only incorporated 24 of the highest-ranked UEFA national associations.
Finals, promotion and relegation
In the top league, League A, the winners of the four groups go on to play in the Nations League Finals, with two semi-finals, one third and fourth place decider, and one final to decide which team becomes the UEFA Nations League champion.
Teams can also be
promoted and relegated to a higher or lower league. Starting in 2020–21, each group winner in Leagues B, C, and D is automatically promoted to the next higher league for the next tournament. Each team placing last in its group in the Leagues A and B is automatically relegated to the next lower league; League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams that are to be relegated are determined by play-outs beginning in March of even-numbered years. Based on the Nations League overall ranking of the fourth-placed teams, the first-ranked team face the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team face the third-ranked team. Two ties are played over two legs, with the higher-ranked team hosting the second leg. The two teams that win on aggregate remain in League C, while the losing teams are relegated to League D. If the aggregate score is level,
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
will be played (the
away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...
is not applied). If still tied after extra time, a
penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
will be used to decide the winner.
The away goals was originally to be used, but was abolished by the UEFA Executive Committee on 16 December 2021.
UEFA European Championship link
The UEFA Nations League is linked with the
UEFA European Championship qualifying
The UEFA European Championship qualifying, branded as the European Qualifiers, is the process that UEFA-affiliated national football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship.
In this article, the years represent t ...
, providing teams another chance to qualify for the
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...
.
There were play-offs for each of Leagues A, B, C, and D in October and November 2020. Each group winner earned a spot in the semi-finals. If the group winner was already one of the 20 qualified teams, rankings were used to give the play-off spot to another team of that league. If fewer than four teams in the entire league remained unqualified, play-off spots for that league were given to teams of the next lower league. This determined the four remaining qualifying spots for the European Championship (out of 24 total).
However, starting with
UEFA Euro 2024
The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, will be the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football cham ...
onward, the now-downsized League D will no longer be given its own path. Instead, if any of Leagues A, B, or C have fewer than four teams that did not qualify directly for Euro 2024, the best-ranked group winner of League D will advance to the play-offs (unless that team already qualified for the final tournament). The remaining spots will be allocated based on the Nations League overall ranking, however, group winners from Leagues A, B, and C cannot face teams from a higher league. Therefore, additional teams from League D can only advance to the play-offs if enough teams from League C qualify directly.
FIFA World Cup link
The Nations League was linked with European qualification for the
2022 FIFA World Cup, although to a lesser degree than the UEFA European Championship qualifying play-offs. The first round of 2022 World Cup qualification consisted of ten groups. The winner of each group directly qualified for the World Cup. Then, the second round (which followed a play-off format) was contested by the ten group runners-up, plus the best two Nations League group winners (based on the Nations League overall ranking) that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group. The play-offs were split into three play-off paths, played in two semi-finals (hosted by the six best-ranked runners-up of the qualifying group stage) and the final (with the home teams to be drawn), from which an additional three teams also qualified.
In an interview with Polish website ''meczyki.pl'', UEFA vice-president
Zbigniew Boniek
Zbigniew Boniek (; born 3 March 1956) is a Polish former footballer and manager as well as current UEFA vice-president. A former midfielder, who was also capable of playing mostly as a right winger and second striker, he is considered one of t ...
said that all 10 teams from
CONMEBOL
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...
, the South American Football Confederation, would join the UEFA Nations League from the
2024–25 edition of the competition.
Trophy
The UEFA Nations League trophy was unveiled during the phase draw in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, Switzerland. The trophy represents all 55 UEFA National associations and is made of
sterling silver
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925.
'' Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, i ...
. The trophy weighs 7.5 kg and is 71 cm tall.
Anthem
The official anthem of the UEFA Nations League was recorded with the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, singing in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. It is a mix of classical and electronic music, and is played when the players are entering the field of play, in television sequences and for ceremonial purposes. The composers are
Giorgio Tuinfort
Giorgio Hesdey Tuinfort is a Dutch record producer and songwriter.
Biography
Born in Suriname, Tuinfort moved to the Netherlands at 9 months old. His musical career started at age 4, after he attended a special music class for toddlers. After b ...
and Franck van der Heijden.
Seasons
Each season of the UEFA Nations League is typically played from September to November of an even-numbered year (league phase), and June of the following odd-numbered year (Nations League Finals of League A), meaning a UEFA Nations League champion is crowned every two years. An exception will be made in the 2022–23 season when the league phase will be played in June and September 2022, due to the
2022 FIFA World Cup played in Qatar at the end of the year.
Results
Finals
Performances by team
:
* = ''hosts''
Team performances
* – Champions
* – Runners-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
* – Promoted
** – Promoted after format change
* – No movement
** – Originally relegated, spared after format change (no movement)
* – Relegated
*Q – Qualified for upcoming UEFA Nations League Finals
*R - In playoff to avoid relegation from League C
* – Host country of UEFA Nations League Finals
Reactions
Support
UEFA devised the tournament as a means to eliminate international friendlies – an aim that has been shared by many football clubs and supporters, with the regular football season being interrupted with non-competitive international matches as part of the
FIFA International Match Calendar
The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar or FIFA Days) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which ...
.
In February 2012, it was agreed between UEFA and the
European Club Association
The European Club Association (ECA) is a body representing the interests of professional association football clubs in UEFA. It is the sole such body recognised by the confederation, and has member clubs in each UEFA member association. It was fo ...
(ECA) that the international friendly schedule would be reduced from 12 to 9 matches a year with the August round of international friendlies in the UEFA confederation abolished from 2015. The aspiration to eliminate friendlies in favour of a more competitive tournament has been both welcomed and criticised by many football commentators.
Criticism
The format has been criticised for allowing weaker teams to qualify through the Nations League to compete in the European Championship finals, instead of qualifying through the standard qualification process. However, once the tournament began in 2018, it got applause for "very high-level matches" and impressive turnouts in the initial round of fixtures.
Influence
Shortly after the foundation of the UEFA Nations League,
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
, inspired by its success, announced that a similar competition format, the
CONCACAF Nations League
The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...
, would be established. The first edition was played in
2018. Also inspired by the recent success of the Nations League, the
AFC had begun to formalise a similar competition, planned to begin in 2021 before being stalled due to the effect of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
See also
*
CONCACAF Nations League
The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...
*
UEFA Women's Nations League
The UEFA Women's Nations League is an upcoming biennial international women's football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The competition will fea ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Nations League
2018 establishments in Europe
Recurring sporting events established in 2018