The fifth edition of this international team tournament will start on 24th September 2026. There will be six rounds of league matches between then and November, before the play-off rounds start in March 2027. The final will take place on 13th June 2027. The four previous winners of the Nations League were Portugal (twice), France and Spain.
In this article, you’ll find all the information you need on the 2026/27 Nations League, including the tournament schedule, the format of the competition and much more.
What is the UEFA Nations League format?
The Nations League will comprise four leagues. Leagues A, B and C will feature 16 teams each, divided into four groups of four teams, whilst League D will feature six teams, divided into two groups of three.
In the top division, Group A, the top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages. This quarter-final round will feature each of the four group winners playing a second-placed team from a different group, over a two-legged tie.
The four quarter-final winners will progress to the Nations League finals, which retain the previous format, consisting of one-legged semi-finals and a final.
There is also promotion between each tier of groups. The four winners of the ‘B’ and ‘C’ groups are promoted, whilst the nations finishing bottom in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ groups are relegated accordingly.
As there are four ‘C’ level groups and just two ‘D’ level groups, the top nation in each of the ‘D’ groups gets promoted, whilst the two worst-ranked bottom teams of the ‘C’ groups get relegated.
There are also promotion and relegation play-offs. The teams finishing in third place in the ‘A’ level groups will play the runners-up in the ‘B’ level groups, whilst the teams finishing in third place in the ‘B’ level groups will play the runners-up in the ‘C’ level groups. The two best-ranked fourth-placed teams in the ‘C’ level groups will play the two runners-up of the ‘D’ level groups. All these matches will be played home-and-away, over two legs.
If this sounds overly complicated, remember that the idea of the Nations League is to give teams more competitive matches, rather than the previous rounds of ‘friendly’ matches that filled many international breaks.
Where will the 2026/27 Nations League finals be held?
The semi-finals and final of the 2026/27 Nations League will be held between the 9th and 13th June 2027. The venue for the Nations League Finals will not be announced until after the four qualifying teams are known.
Nations League groups 2026/27
The draw for the group stage took place on 12th February at 17:00 GMT. The teams were seeded into pots based on their final Nations League ranking after the last tournament, taking into account the leagues in which they played and the subsequent promotion/relegation play-off matches.
Full 2026/27 Nations League match schedule
2026
- Matchdays 1 – 4 (24th September – 6th October)
- Matchdays 5 – 6 (12th – 17th November)
2027
- Leagues A/B and B/C promotion/relegation play-offs (25th – 30th March)
- League A quarter-finals (25th – 30th March)
- Final tournament (9th – 13th June)
2028
- League C/D promotion/relegation play-offs (23rd – 28th March)
2026/27 Nations League draw
The draw for the 2026/27 Nations League groups is as follows:
League A
Group A1
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇹🇷 Turkey
Group A2
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇷🇸 Serbia
- 🇬🇷 Greece
Group A3
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇭🇷 Croatia
- 🏴 England
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
Group A4
- 🇵🇹 Portugal
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🏴 Wales
League B
Group B1
- 🏴 Scotland
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
Group B2
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🏴 Northern Ireland
Group B3
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇮🇪 Republic of Ireland
- 🇽🇰 Kosovo
Group B4
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 🇷🇴 Romania
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
League C
Group C1
- 🇦🇱 Albania
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇧🇾 Belarus
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
Group C2
- 🇲🇪 Montenegro
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus
- 🇱🇻 Latvia
Group C3
- 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
- 🇸🇰 Slovakia
- 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands
- 🇲🇩 Moldova
Group C4
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
- 🇪🇪 Estonia
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
League D
Group D1
- 🇬🇮 Gibraltar
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇦🇩 Andorra
Group D2
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein
Previous Nations League finals
There have been four previous Nations League tournaments. Here are the results of the finals of each one:
2024/25
Host country: Germany
Final: Portugal 2-2 Spain (Portugal won 5-3 on penalties). (Match goalscorers—Portugal: Nuno Mendes, Cristiano Ronaldo. Spain: Martín Zubimendi, Mikel Oyarzabal)
Third-place play-off: Germany 0-2 France (Goalscorers—Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise)
2022/23
Host country: Netherlands
Final: Spain 0-0 Croatia (Spain won 5-4 on penalties)
Third-place play-off: Italy 3-2 Netherlands (Goalscorers—Italy: Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi, Federico Chiesa. Netherlands: Steven Bergwijn, Georginio Wijnaldum)
2020/21
Host country: Italy
Final: France 2-1 Spain (Goalscorers—France: Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappé. Spain: Mikel Oyarzabal)
Third-place play-off: Italy 2-1 Belgium (Goalscorers—Italy: Nicolò Barella, Domenico Berardi (pen). Belgium: Charles De Ketelaere)
2018/19
Host country: Portugal
Final: Portugal 1-0 Netherlands (Goalscorer—Gonçalo Guedes)
Third-place play-off: England 0-0 Switzerland (England won 6-5 on penalties)
Follow all the Nations League matches in the Sportsbook. With a huge range of pre-match markets and full live betting coverage of every game, check the odds with Marathonbet first.
Discover our Champions League, Europa League and Conference League predictions and tips articles on the blog, as well as our weekly predictions for the English Premier League.
