UEFA Confirms Groupings for Inaugural UEFA Nations League

The UEFA Nations League that will begin in September 2018 and conclude in June 2019 with an aim to strengthen competition across the continent.

UEFA have confirmed the makeup of the four leagues for the inaugural UEFA Nations League that will begin in September 2018 and conclude in June 2019, with the hope that the new competition will strengthen international football across the whole confederation.

Country coefficients and the recently concluded World Cup qualifying helped determine which nations would be drawn into the four different leagues - A, B, C, D.

The 12 best countries will compete in League A and will be split into four groups of three.

CONFIRMED: The four leagues for the UEFA Nations League! ⚽️👌

More details 👉 https://t.co/sg2Z1S9r78 pic.twitter.com/zWM4xt288O

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) October 11, 2017

The four League A group winners will contest the 'Final Four' tournament in June 2019, while the bottom placed team will be relegated to League B. They will be replaced in League A by the four group winners from the second tier.

That model of relegation and promotion is repeated further down the pyramid.

Like League A, League B will also comprise 12 teams split into four groups of three. There are 15 countries in League C, split into one group of three and four groups of four, and the remaining 16 lowest ranked countries in League D, made up of four groups of four.

The draw for the groups within each league will take place on 24th January 2018.

League A: Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands

League B: Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey

League C: Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway, Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania

League D: Azerbaijan, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar

The UEFA Nations League group games will be played during international breaks in September, October, November 2018. Qualifying for Euro 2020 will not begin until March 2019.

The UEFA Nations League also offers one country from each league the chance to reach Euro 2020 (via an extra playoff) if they do not make it through the normal qualifying process.