The 2026–27 UEFA Nations League will be the fifth season of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

, an international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

. The competition will be held from September to November 2026 (league phase), March 2027 (League A quarter-finals, and League A/B and B/C play-offs), June 2027 (Nations League Finals) and March 2028 (League C/D play-offs).

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

are the defending champions, having won the 2025 finals. They won the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

5–3 on penalties, following a 2–2 draw after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 only if the game is required t ...

Format

The UEFA national teams will be divided into four leagues, with Leagues A, B, and C featuring sixteen teams each, divided into four groups of four teams, while League D features six teams divided into two groups of three. The teams will be allocated to leagues based on the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League final overall ranking. Each team will play six matches within their group, except for teams in League D which will play four, using the home-and-away round-robin format on matchdays from September to November 2026. In the top division, League A, the group winners and runners-up will advance to the quarter-finals, played home-and-away over two legs in March 2027. In each tie, group winners will face a runner-up from a different group, with the group winner hosting the second leg. The four quarter-final winners will qualify for the Nations League Finals, which is played in a knockout format, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off and final. The semi-final pairings are determined by means of a draw. The host country will be selected, preferably from among the four qualified teams, by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winners of the final crowned as the Nations League champions. Teams also compete for

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to a higher or lower league. The group winners in Leagues B, C, and D are directly promoted, while the last-placed teams of each group in Leagues A and B are directly relegated. As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two worst-ranked League C teams will automatically be relegated. The competition will also feature promotion/relegation play-offs following the league phase, with the third-placed teams of League A facing the runners-up of League B, the third-placed teams of League B facing the runners-up of League C, and the two best-ranked fourth-placed teams of League C facing the runners-up of League D. The matches will be played home-and-away over two legs in March 2027 (League A/B and B/C) and another window if necessary (League C/D), with the winners going to the higher league and the losers entering the lower league. In all two-legged ties, the higher-ranked teams host the second leg. The team that scores more goals on aggregate is the winner. If the aggregate score is level,

is played (the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of 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 team that ...

is not applied). If the score remains level 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 ...

is used to decide the winner.

UEFA Euro 2028 qualifying

The 2026–27 UEFA Nations League is expected to be linked with

UEFA Euro 2028 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2028 qualifying tournament is an upcoming Association football, football competition that will determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams in the UEFA Euro 2028 final tournament. The competition will be linked with the 2026� ...

, providing teams another chance to qualify for

UEFA Euro 2028 The 2028 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2028 or simply Euro 2028, will be the 18th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international association football, football championship. It will be co-hoste ...

. However, this is pending the formal approval of the format and regulations of UEFA Euro 2028.

Schedule

Below is the schedule of the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League.

Seeding

All 55 UEFA national teams are able to submit an entry into the competition. However, on 28 February 2022

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

were suspended indefinitely from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, it is unclear whether they will compete in this edition of the Nations League. The teams which finished bottom of their group in Leagues A and B, as well as the bottom two fourth-placed teams of League C, from the 2024–25 season will move down a league, while the group winners of Leagues B, C, and D will move up. Additionally, the winners of the promotion/relegation play-off ties will enter the higher respective league, while the losers will play in the lower league. The remaining teams will stay in their respective leagues. For the 2026–27 draw, teams will be seeded based on the 2024–25 Nations League final overall ranking, which took into account the results from the league stage, League A knockout stage, and promotion/relegation play-offs. The draw will take place in early 2026.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Nations League 2026-27 2026-27 Nations League Nations League Scheduled association football competitions 2026–27 in European men's football 2027–28 in European men's football