The Nations League is back with England and the Republic of Ireland drawn together in Group B2; Scotland play in League A for the first time, having topped Group B1 in 2022/23; Wales placed in Group B4 alongside Iceland, Montenegro and Turkey; Northern Ireland are in League C
Tuesday 10 September 2024 21:56, UK
The UEFA Nations League is back for the fourth edition of the tournament.
The competition was created to remove the unpopular friendlies from the calendar by replacing them with meaningful fixtures - and as before, it will be partially linked with European qualification for the next World Cup in 2026.
Sky Sports takes a look at what is different to UEFA's newest competition and provides everything you need to know about the latest edition...
Forget about the new Champions League format - the Nations League still follows the conventional system whereby each team will play six matches in their group, one home and one away against the other three nations in the group.
The 54 UEFA member associations participating were divided into four leagues based on their results in the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League. Two years ago, England and Wales were relegated to League B while Scotland were promoted to League A. Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland remain in Leagues B and C respectively.
The fourth-placed teams in Leagues A and B are automatically relegated to League B and C respectively. As before, the four group winners in Leagues B and C, as well as the two group winners in League D, are automatically promoted to Leagues A, B and C respectively.
The two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams in League C, meanwhile, are relegated to League D.
No - that's changed since the last edition. Now, the Nations League has been expanded with an additional knockout round to be played in March 2025.
The League A group winners and runners-up will participate in home-and-away quarter-finals between March 20-25, with the winners of these ties qualifying for the finals next June.
Furthermore, the third-ranked teams of League A and the runners-up of League B, as well as the third-ranked teams of League B and the runners-up of League C, will play a home-and-away promotion/relegation play-off.
There will also be play-offs between the two best-ranked fourth-placed teams from League C and the two runners-up from League D.
The finals - to be staged by one of the four nations that qualify - are set to take place in June 2025.
The semi-finals will take place on June 4/5. The winners progress to the final on June 8, while the two beaten semi-finalists will face off for third place earlier on the same day.
The draw for the promotion/relegation play-offs will be held on November 22 2024 along with the draw for the League A quarter-finals.
The road to Canada, Mexico, and the United States technically starts here. When it comes to the draw for World Cup qualification, each national team involved will also be placed in a ranked table, based on the performance in the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League.
Essentially, the four highest-ranked teams who do not then secure an automatic place at the 2026 World Cup will be granted a playoff safety net.
For 2026 World Cup qualifying, there will be 12 groups of either four or five teams. Only the group winners will qualify automatically for the tournament.
The 12 group runners-up and four best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, will be drawn into four play-off paths, playing two rounds of single-match play-offs (semi-finals with the seeded teams to host, followed by finals, with the home teams to be drawn).
The four path winners will qualify for the World Cup finals.
League A
League B
League C
League D
Scotland 2-3 Poland
Portugal 2-1 Scotland
Croatia vs Scotland - 12/10/24
Scotland vs Portugal - 15/10/24
Scotland vs Croatia - 15/11/24
Poland vs Scotland - 18/11/24
Republic of Ireland 0-2 England
England vs Finland - 10/09/24
England vs Greece - 10/10/24
Finland vs England - 13/10/24
Greece vs England - 14/11/24
England vs Republic of Ireland - 17/11/24
Republic of Ireland 0-2 England
Republic of Ireland 0-2 Greece
Finland vs Republic of Ireland - 10/10/24
Greece vs Republic of Ireland - 13/10/24
Republic of Ireland vs Finland - 14/11/24
England vs Republic of Ireland - 17/11/24
Wales 0-0 Turkey
Montenegro 1-2 Wales
Iceland vs Wales - 11/10/24
Wales vs Montenegro - 14/10/24
Turkey vs Wales - 16/11/24
Wales vs Iceland - 19/11/24
Northern Ireland 2-0 Luxembourg
Bulgaria 1-0 Northern Ireland
Belarus vs Northern Ireland - 12/10/24
Northern Ireland vs Bulgaria - 15/10/24
Northern Ireland vs Belarus - 15/11/24
Luxembourg vs Northern Ireland - 18/11/24
