The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport’s European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018, following the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The four group winners from League A qualified for the finals, played in Portugal in June 2019. The competition largely replaces the international friendly matches previously played on the FIFA International Match Calendar with more competitive matches.
What are the UEFA Nations League groups?
Leagues A, B and C all have 16 teams, which were drawn into four groups of four for the league phase. The remaining seven teams, in League D, were split into two groups, one of four and the other of three. In each case, teams play all their group opponents home and away in June and September 2022. Four of the six matchdays will be held in June due to the winter scheduling of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The four group winners in League A advance to the knockout Finals in June 2023. The group winners in the other three leagues will all be promoted for the 2024/25 edition.
Nations League 20/21 highlights
Nations League 20/21 highlights
League A
Group A1: France, Denmark, Croatia, Austria
Group A2: Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic
Group A3: Italy, Germany, England, Hungary
Group A4: Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Wales
League B
Group B1: Ukraine, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Armenia
Group B2: Iceland, Russia*, Israel, Albania
Group B3: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Romania, Montenegro
Group B4: Sweden, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia
League C
Group C1: Türkiye, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Faroe Islands
Group C2: Northern Ireland, Greece, Kosovo, Cyprus
Group C3: Slovakia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan
Group C4: Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Georgia, Gibraltar
League D
Group D1: Liechtenstein, Moldova, Andorra, Latvia
Group D2: Malta, Estonia, San Marino
Look back on the 2019 Nations League finals
Look back on the 2019 Nations League finals
What are the dates for the 2022/23 Nations League?
Matchdays 1 & 2: 1–8 June 2022
Matchdays 3 & 4: 9–14 June 2022
Matchdays 5 & 6: 22–27 September 2022
Finals draw: tbc
Semi-finals: 14 & 15 June 2023
Final & third-place match: 18 June 2023
Play-outs: 21–23 & 24–26 March 2024
What is the point of UEFA Nations League?
The Concacaf Nations League was designed to provide a boost to developing national teams across the region. And last year, at the conclusion of its inaugural edition, the tournament had functioned as promised from an American perspective. After all, what was coach Gregg Berhalter’s squad if not nascent and developing?
Berhalter and the U.S. men emerged from the pandemic committed to youth, and the roster he selected for last June’s Nations League final four averaged just 17 senior caps—a number skewed by veterans DeAndre Yedlin, Tim Ream and John Brooks—and under 24 years old. Then, over the course of 210 fraught and frenetic minutes against Honduras and Mexico, the young Americans began to come of age.
“[The Nations League] helped us a lot to gain confidence in the team as a whole,” U.S. forward Paul Arriola told reporters this week from Austin. “Winning this tournament for the first time was very important for us. It gave us the confidence that we can win cups and tournaments.”
Following a long flight from camp in Switzerland, the Americans outlasted Honduras in a 1–0 grind of a semifinal and then beat Mexico, 3–2, in a wild and tempestuous overtime decider in front of a pro–El Tri crowd. That weekend in Denver was peak Concacaf, and it served as a valuable training ground and crucible for a team on the threshold of both the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying.
How to watch UEFA Nations League in usa?
The 2022-23 UEFA Nations League will be available in the USA via a dual partnership between Fox Sports and fuboTV for English-language coverage. Spanish-language coverage will be found on Univision streaming platform ViX.
Fans streaming fuboTV’s exclusive matches can monitor other scores and player/match stats on the same screen with fubo’s FanView live stats feature. Additionally, fans on Apple TV can watch up to four UEFA Nations League matches simultaneously (or up to two matches if also using FanView) thanks to fuboTV’s MultiView feature.
Play-by-play announcer John Strong and analyst Stu Holden are Fox Sports’ lead announce team for the competition, with JP Dellacamera and former U.S. national team stars Aly Wagner and Cobi Jones also covering matches.
In-studio Fox shows will feature hosts Rob Stone and Rodolfo Landeros, with ex-USMNT players Alexi Lalas and Maurice Edu joined by Holden and Wagner, and former England defender Warren Barton. LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo and LA Galaxy midfielder Sacha Kljestan, both former USMNT players, will make their Fox Sports studio analyst debuts during the competition.
UEFA Nations League winners
Portugal won the inaugural Nations League in 2019, topping the Netherlands 1-0 on a goal by Goncalo Guedes.
France won the most recent 2020-21 edition, defeating Spain 2-1 in the October, 2021 final on an 80th minute Kylian Mbappe goal.
The UEFA Nations League is not to be confused with its sister competition in North America, the CONCACAF Nations League. The CONCACAF version of the competition features North American teams and was created for similar reasons (to replace friendlies) and with a similar format (Leagues with promotion and relegation). The USA won the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League.
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