Photo by Slobodan Kadic
March 8, 2024 – The UEFA Nations League draw was held in Paris on Thursday. The new season of the competition kicks off in September this year.
Croatia, which lost the final to Spain last year in Rotterdam, was in the strongest pot in the draw. Croatia will thus play in League A, Group 1 against Portugal, Poland and Scotland in this season’s tournament.
The Nations League group stage will be played from September 5 to November 19, the knockout stage from March 20 to 25, and the final from June 4 to 8 with a major change. Until now, only the winners of League A groups went to the final tournament. From this season, a knockout stage is played, in which the first two teams from each group advance.
The quarter-final matches will be played in two games from March 20 to 25, meaning two more games will be packed into the players’ already busy schedule. In short, the national team that wins the competition will play a total of ten games.
This season, the Nations League will be directly related to the World Cup qualifiers. The 12 second-placed national teams from the qualifiers and the four best-ranked teams from the Nations League that did not secure placement through the qualifiers will play additional UEFA qualifications for the 2026 World Cup.
League A
Group A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland
Group A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel
Group A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia
League B
Group B1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia
Group B2: England, Finland, Ireland, Greece
Group B3: Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Kazakhstan
Group B4: Wales, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey
League C
Group C1: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Estonia
Group C2: Romania, Kosovo, Cyprus, Lithuania/Gibraltar
Group C3: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Belarus
Group C4: Armenia, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Latvia
League D
Group D1: Gibraltar/Lithuania, San Marino, Liechtenstein
Group D2: Moldova, Malta, Andorra
More soon…
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