What the UEFA Nations League is about

Germany’s soccer player is dealing with Italy in the Nations League. The UEFA competition also has a meaning for World Cup qualification 2026.

Germany meets Italy in the quarter -finals of the Nations League. The first leg will take place on Thursday (March 20, from 8:45 p.m. live in the ARD) in Milan. The second leg is on Sunday (March 23rd, from 8:45 p.m. Live in the AudioStream on Sportschau.de) in Dortmund.

The winner qualifies for the final tournament of the last four remaining nations. The two semi -finals and the final will be held from 04. to June 8th without second leg.

Where does the final tournament take place?

UEFA stipulates that all associations with a team in League A basically have to offer the orientation of the final tournament if the requested stages are available in the country. As soon as the quarter-finals are standing, the UEFA Executive Committee determines one of the quarter-finals, the winner of which will host the tournament. The decision was made on the quarter -finals of Germany against Italy this year. In principle, applications from other countries are also possible.

What does that have to do with the 2026 World Cup?

As usual since the EM 2021, the Nations League is connected to the following big tournament – this time with the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. The UEFA gets 16 starting places at the enlarged World Cup with 48 teams, so far it was 13.

What connection is there to draw the World Cup qualification?

From this season, the Nations League has a new impact on the draw of qualification groups for the World Cup. Since only the group winners of the World Cup qualification groups secure direct participation in the 2026 World Cup, it would be a disadvantage to land only in Lost pot 2 and a heavy opponent from pot 1 in the race to get the group victory.

The change: Eight of the twelve places in Lost pot 1 go to the eight quarter -finalists of the Nations League. This upgraded the sporting importance of the Nations League for the teams in League A. The danger: If you miss the quarter -finals, you could land in Lost pot 2. So far, the seed list has always been completely created according to the FIFA world rankings.

How do the ascent and descent work?

The four group bottom of the league A descends, the group winners of League B rise. There are relegation games between the group thirds of the league A and the group runners -up of League B. The same regulation applies between Ligen B and C.

There are fewer relegation games between the leagues C and D because the league D only has six teams.

Are there more caps now?

No, but more Nations League. The qualification for the 2026 World Cup is reduced: In the future, only ten or five teams will be held there with smaller groups of four or five teams instead of twelve game days. The UEFA uses the two freely freedom dates for the new quarter -finals and the relegation games.

Nations League – Why?

The Nations League was introduced to give international matches away from the qualification competitions for world and European championships. The final tournament should become more important over time and the connection to the qualification to the big tournaments ensure an upgrading. The league system should give more games at eye level, smaller countries can hope for more money thanks to the central marketing of the UEFA.

Many fans and players still cheat on the competition. “In my eyes, the Nations League is unimportant”said the Belgian international Kevin de Bruyne 2022. “These are just fully cheered friendly games, I’m not looking forward to it.”

How did the Nations League seasons so far go?

So far, the Nations League has been held three times. The previous winners:

In 2018/19 the Nations League was still held in groups of three, Germany became the last in its group. A mode change with a change from groups of three on four groups saved the DFB before relegation in League B. 2020/21, despite the 0: 6 bankruptcy in Spain, still in second place and third place in 2022/23. The DFB has never qualified for the final tournament.