UEFA Nations League format: leagues, promotion and finals

ScoreMondo Data DeskPublished: 12 Nov 2026Updated: 12 Nov 2026

The UEFA Nations League sorts Europe's national teams into four leagues, A to D, by strength. Inside each league, teams play small home-and-away groups in the autumn; results decide who moves up a league, who drops down and, in League A, who reaches the quarter-finals. The competition ends the following June with a four-team finals tournament that crowns the Nations League winners. In 2026/27, the fifth edition, 54 teams take part and the results also feed into qualifying for EURO 2028.

The format at a glance

Item	2026/27
Teams	54 European national teams
Leagues A, B and C	16 teams each, in four groups of four
League D	6 teams, in two groups of three
Group matches	Home and away against every other team in the group
Points	3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a defeat
League phase	24 September to 17 November 2026, six matchdays
Quarter-finals and play-offs	25–30 March 2027, two legs
Finals	Semi-finals 9 and 10 June, third-place match and final 13 June 2027

How the league phase works

Every team plays each of its group opponents twice, once at home and once away. In the groups of four that means six matches; in League D's groups of three it means four. The draw was made in Brussels on 12 February 2026.

The calendar for this edition is unusual. Matchdays 1 to 4 were packed into one prolonged international window from 24 September to 6 October 2026, and matchdays 5 and 6 are scheduled for 12–14 and 15–17 November 2026.

The groups

League	Groups
A	A1: France, Italy, Belgium, Türkiye · A2: Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Greece · A3: Spain, Croatia, England, Czechia · A4: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Wales
B	B1: Scotland, Switzerland, Slovenia, North Macedonia · B2: Hungary, Ukraine, Georgia, Northern Ireland · B3: Israel, Austria, Republic of Ireland, Kosovo · B4: Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Sweden
C	C1: Albania, Finland, Belarus, San Marino · C2: Montenegro, Armenia, Cyprus, Latvia · C3: Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Faroe Islands, Moldova · C4: Iceland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Luxembourg
D	D1: Gibraltar, Malta, Andorra · D2: Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein

Teams level on points

The Nations League puts head-to-head results first. According to Article 15 of the 2026/27 regulations, teams level on points in a group are separated in this order:

Points in the matches between the teams concerned
Goal difference in those matches
Goals scored in those matches
If some teams are still level, the first three criteria are applied again to the matches between those teams only
Goal difference in all group matches
Goals scored in all group matches
Away goals scored in all group matches
Wins in all group matches
Away wins in all group matches
Fewer disciplinary points (yellow card 1 point, red card 3 points)
Higher position in the 2026/27 Nations League access list

Other competitions order these criteria differently; how league table tiebreakers work compares the main systems.

Promotion, relegation and play-offs in 2026/27

This edition has a special job. From 2028/29 the Nations League will have three leagues of 18 teams instead of four leagues, so movement between the leagues in 2026/27 is designed to produce exactly that shape.

League	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
A	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals	Two best stay in A; the other two go to the A/B play-offs	Two best go to the A/B play-offs; the other two are relegated to B
B	Promoted to A	A/B play-offs	Stay in B	B/C play-offs
C	Promoted to B	B/C play-offs	Stay in C	Stay in C
D	All six teams move up to League C

To compare third-placed or fourth-placed teams from different groups, UEFA uses the overall ranking of the league phase.

The play-offs are two-legged ties in March 2027. In the A/B play-offs, four League A teams meet the four League B runners-up; in the B/C play-offs, the four fourth-placed League B teams meet the four League C runners-up. The team from the higher league is seeded in the draw, and the team from the lower league plays the first leg at home. The winner of each tie takes a place in the higher league for the next edition. There is no League C/D play-off in this edition, because League D disappears.

Quarter-finals and finals

The winners and runners-up of the four League A groups go into the quarter-finals. Group winners are seeded and drawn against a runner-up from a different group; the runner-up hosts the first leg and the group winner the second. The draw for the knockout stage and the play-offs takes place in Nyon on 20 November 2026, and the ties are played between 25 and 30 March 2027.

Ties level on aggregate after the second leg go to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out; see stoppage time, extra time and penalties for how that works.

The four quarter-final winners contest the finals: two single-match semi-finals on 9 and 10 June 2027, then the third-place match and the final on 13 June. The host has not been confirmed at the time of writing; the stadiums are designated by the UEFA Executive Committee.

The link to EURO 2028 and the World Cup

The Nations League is also a second route to major tournaments. For EURO 2028 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the European Qualifiers have 12 groups. The 12 group winners and the eight best runners-up qualify directly, and two places are reserved for host associations that do not qualify that way. The remaining places are decided in play-offs with 8 or 12 teams. Those play-offs bring together the lowest-ranked group runners-up and, according to the EURO regulations, group winners from Leagues A, B and C of the 2026/27 Nations League that have not already qualified, taken in order of the Nations League overall ranking. How many places that gives the Nations League depends on how the host teams fare in qualifying.

The previous edition worked the same way for the 2026 World Cup: the 16-team European play-offs included 12 qualifying group runners-up and the four best-ranked 2024/25 Nations League group winners that had not finished in the top two of their qualifying group. The tournament itself is covered in the 2026 World Cup format.

Following the Nations League on ScoreMondo

The Nations League page shows the groups, tables, fixtures and results for all four leagues. During international windows, live scores update as matches are played, and each match page has events, statistics and line-ups. Yesterday's results list finished matches by day, and the leagues overview leads to the World Cup and the domestic competitions. In the apps you can add your national team to favourites and switch on goal alerts. Unsure what a label next to a fixture means? Match statuses explained has the answer.

A short history

UEFA's member associations approved the idea in 2014, largely because friendly matches were no longer providing enough competition. The first edition ran from September 2018 to June 2019 and replaced most friendlies with competitive matches between teams of similar strength.

Finals	Winners	Final
2019, Porto	Portugal	Portugal 1-0 Netherlands
2021, Milan	France	France 2-1 Spain
2023, Rotterdam	Spain	Croatia 0-0 Spain, 5-4 on penalties
2025, Munich	Portugal	Portugal 2-2 Spain, 5-3 on penalties

Portugal are the only team to have won the trophy twice.

The next change is already agreed in principle. The concept approved by the UEFA Executive Committee in May 2026 foresees three leagues of 18 teams from 2028/29, each with three groups of six, in which every team plays six matches against five different opponents. Quarter-finals, the four-team finals and the promotion and relegation play-offs remain.

Questions and answers

How many matches does a team play in the Nations League?

Six in the league phase for teams in Leagues A, B and C, and four in League D. A League A team that goes all the way adds two quarter-final legs, a semi-final and the final or third-place match, for ten in total.

Does the Nations League replace EURO or World Cup qualifying?

No. The European Qualifiers remain the main route. The Nations League offers a second chance: some play-off places for EURO 2028 go to Nations League group winners that failed to qualify through their qualifying group.

Is there relegation from League A?

Yes. In 2026/27 the two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams go straight down to League B, and four more League A teams must defend their place in the A/B play-offs.

What happens to League D?

All six League D teams move up to League C after this edition, because the competition switches to three leagues from 2028/29.

Who has won the Nations League most often?

Portugal, with two titles (2019 and 2025). France won in 2021 and Spain in 2023.

Where are the 2027 finals?

The host had not been confirmed when this guide was written. The dates are set: semi-finals on 9 and 10 June, third-place match and final on 13 June 2027.