2024–25 UEFA Nations League

The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League will be the fourth season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.

2024–25 UEFA Nations League

Format

The 55 UEFA national teams will be divided into four leagues, with Leagues A, B and C featuring 16 teams each, divided into four groups of four teams. League D will feature 7 teams divided into two groups, with one containing four teams and the other containing three. The teams are allocated to leagues based on the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League overall ranking. Each team will play six matches within their group, except for one group in League D which will play four, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in the FIFA International Match Calendar.[2][3]

In the top division, League A, teams compete to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four group winners of League A 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, along with the administrative home teams for the third place play-off and final, are determined by means of a draw. The host country will be selected 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 to a higher or lower league. In Leagues B, C and D, the group winners are promoted, while the last-placed teams of each group in Leagues A and B are relegated. As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams which are to be relegated will be determined by play-outs in March 2024. Based on the Nations League overall ranking of the fourth-placed teams, the first-ranked team will face the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team will face the third-ranked team. Two ties will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home (the higher-ranked team will host the second leg). The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs will remain in League C, while the loser will be relegated to League D. If the aggregate score is level, extra time is played (the away goals rule is not applied). If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner.[1]

Tiebreakers for group ranking

If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:[1]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[lower-alpha 1] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 11 apply;
  5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of wins in all group matches;
  9. Higher number of away wins in all group matches;
  10. Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
  11. Position in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League access list.

Notes

  1. When there are two or more teams tied in points, criteria 1 to 3 are applied. After these criteria are applied, they may define the position of some of the teams involved, but not all of them. For example, if there is a three-way tie on points, the application of the first three criteria may only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure is resumed, from the beginning, for those teams that are still tied.

Criteria for league ranking

Individual league rankings are established according to the following criteria:[1]

  1. Position in the group;
  2. Higher number of points;
  3. Superior goal difference;
  4. Higher number of goals scored;
  5. Higher number of goals scored away from home;
  6. Higher number of wins;
  7. Higher number of wins away from home;
  8. Lower disciplinary points total (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
  9. Position in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League access list.

In order to rank teams in League D, which is composed of different sized groups, the results against the fourth-placed team in Group D1 are not taken into account for the purposes of comparing teams placed first, second and third in their respective groups.[1]

The ranking of the top 4 teams in League A are determined by their finish in the Nations League Finals:[1]

  1. The winner is ranked 1st;
  2. The runner-up is ranked 2nd;
  3. The third-placed team is ranked 3rd;
  4. The fourth-placed team is ranked 4th.

Criteria for overall ranking

The overall UEFA Nations League rankings are established as follows:[1]

  1. The 16 League A teams are ranked 1st to 16th according to their league rankings.
  2. The 16 League B teams are ranked 17th to 32nd according to their league rankings.
  3. The 16 League C teams are ranked 33rd to 48th according to their league rankings.
  4. The 7 League D teams are ranked 49th to 55th according to their league rankings.

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League may be partially linked with European qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as was done with the 2020–21 Nations League.[4] However, no decision has yet been made.

Teams

All 55 UEFA national teams will enter the competition. The teams which finished bottom of their group in Leagues A and B, as well as the losers from the relegation play-outs of League C, from the 2022–23 season will move down a league, while the group winners of Leagues B, C and D will move up. The remaining teams will stay in their respective leagues.[5]

Possible addition of CONMEBOL teams

In an interview with Polish website meczyki.pl, UEFA vice-president Zbigniew Boniek said that all ten teams from CONMEBOL, South America's football federation, may join the UEFA Nations League from the 2024–25 edition of the competition.[6] The plans, which would act as a response to FIFA's biannual World Cup plans, are part of enhanced cooperation between the two organisations following the signing of two memorandums of understanding and the opening of a joint office in London.[7] The proposal would see the six highest-ranked South American teams joining League A, with the remaining four joining League B.

References
  1. "Regulations of the UEFA Nations League, 2022/23". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 September 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. "UEFA Nations League: all you need to know". UEFA.com. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  3. "What is the UEFA Nations League?". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  4. "Game changer: group stage for UEFA Women's Champions League". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  5. "2022/23 UEFA Nations League: All you need to know". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  6. Włodarczyk, Tomasz. "Rewolucja w Lidze Narodów! Czeka nas mini-mundial. Polska może zagrać z Brazylią! [NASZ NEWS]". Meczyki.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  7. "UEFA and CONMEBOL renew and extend Memorandum of Understanding". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
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