2018–19 UEFA Nations League

2018–19 UEFA Nations League
Tournament details
Dates	September 2018 (2018-09) – November 2018 (2018-11) (pool stage) June 2019 (2019-06) (final four competition)
Teams	55 (from 1 confederation)

The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League will be the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, a planned international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.^[1] The competition, which will be held from September to November 2018 (pool stage) and June 2019 (final four competition), will also serve as part of the qualification process for UEFA Euro 2020, awarding berths in the play-offs which will decide four of the twenty-four final tournament slots.

Format

The format and schedule of the UEFA Nations League was formally approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 4 December 2014.^[2]^[3] According to the approved format,^[1]^[4]^[5] the 54 UEFA national teams will be divided into four divisions (called "Leagues"):^[2]^[3] 12 teams in League A, 12 teams in League B, 14 teams in League C, and 16 teams in League D. For the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, teams will be divided according to their UEFA national team coefficients after the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with the highest-ranked teams playing in League A, etc.

Each division will be divided into four pools of three or four teams, so each team will play four or six matches within their pool (using the home-and-away round-robin format), on double matchdays in September, October and November 2018.

In the top division League A, teams will compete to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four pool winners of League A will qualify for the "final four competition", to be played in knockout format (semi-finals decided by draw) in June 2019 at a venue to be appointed by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winner of the final crowned as the Nations League champions.

Teams will also compete for promotion and relegation to a higher or lower division. In each division, the four pool winners (except League A) will be promoted, while the last-placed teams of each pool (except League D) will be relegated.

UEFA Euro qualifying

The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League will be linked with UEFA Euro qualifying, providing teams another chance to qualify for UEFA Euro 2020. The main qualifying process will now begin in March 2019 instead of immediately in September 2018 following the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and will end in November 2019.

The format will remain largely the same, although only 20 of the 24 spots for the finals tournament will be decided from the main qualifying process, leaving four spots still to be decided. The 54 teams will be drawn into 10 groups after the completion of the UEFA Nations League (six groups of five teams and four groups of six teams, with the four UEFA Nations League Final Four participants guaranteed to be drawn into groups of five teams), with the top two teams in each group qualifying.^[2]^[3] The qualifiers will be played on double matchdays in March, June, September, October and November 2019.^[6]

Each Nations League division will be allocated one of the four remaining UEFA Euro 2020 places. Four teams from each division which have not already qualified for the Euro finals will compete in the play-offs for each division, to be played in March 2020. The play-off berths will be first allocated to each pool winner, and if any of the pool winners have already qualified for the Euro finals, then to the next best ranked team of the division, etc. If in any division, there are fewer than four teams which have not already qualified for the Euro finals, the play-off berths will be allocated to the next best ranked team of the following division, etc.

The play-offs will consist of two "one-off" semi-finals (best-ranked team vs. fourth best-ranked team and second best-ranked team vs. third best-ranked team, played at home of higher-ranked teams) and one "one-off" final between the two semi-finals winners (venue drawn in advance). The four division winners will join the 20 teams which have already qualified for the Euro finals. This means at least one team from each Nations League division will qualify for the Euro finals.^[2]^[3]

Schedule

Below is the proposed schedule of the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League and UEFA Euro 2020.^[4]^[5]^[2]^[3]^[6]

Year	Month	2018–19 UEFA Nations League	UEFA Euro 2020
2018	September	Group stage (Double matchday)
	October	Group stage (Double matchday)
	November	Group stage (Double matchday)
2019	March		Qualifying stage (Double matchday)
	June	"Final four competition" (Semi-finals and finals)	Qualifying stage (Double matchday)
	September		Qualifying stage (Double matchday)
	October		Qualifying stage (Double matchday)
	November		Qualifying stage (Double matchday)
2020	March		Play-offs (Semi-finals and finals)
2020	June–July		Finals tournament

Teams

All 55 UEFA national teams are eligible to compete in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. Prior to the admission of Kosovo to UEFA in May 2016, it was announced that the 54 members at the time would be divided into the four "Leagues" (12 teams in League A, 12 teams in League B, 14 teams in League C, and 16 teams in League D) according to their UEFA national team coefficients after the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November 2017, with the highest-ranked teams playing in League A, etc. UEFA have not made an announcement about the structure of the tournament following Kosovo's admission.