The UEFA Nations League was founded in 2018. It was formed with the aim to rejuvenate national team football. The UEFA and its 55 member associations wished to have more competition in national-team matches, as most associations, a lot of coaches, players and fans increasingly were of the opinion that friendly matches do not provide for adequate competition. Thus, the basic desire of forming the league was to provide value addition to national team football.
The Format of the League- The format of the League features promotion and relegation. The 55 European national teams were divided into four leagues in accordance with UEFA’s national association coefficient rankings at the end of the first edition of UEFA Nations League which was held in 2018/19. League A includes the top ranked teams while League D has the lowest.
As per the latest rules, as of 24 September 2019, Leagues A, B and C will now feature 16 teams each while there are seven teams in League D, for the current 2020/21 edition. As per this new feature, 2 League C teams will be relegated to League D for the third edition of the competition in 2022/23. Those two teams will be determined by play-offs to be played between the four fourth-ranked teams from each League C group. This was done with the desire to minimize the number of ‘friendly’ matches. It would also add to the commercial value of the League as the total number of matches played would increase from 138 to 162. As for the Finals, the four group winners of League A would play each other to determine the UEFA Nations League winner. The defending champions are Portugal.
For the ongoing 2020/21 edition, the group stage matches will be played on 3,4,5 September and 6,7,8 September then on 10,11 and 13,14 October, followed by 14,15 and 17,18 November 2020. Given below is a list of the results of the matches held so far on 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th September.
Thursday 3 September
A4 Ukraine 2-1 Switzerland
A4 Germany 1-1 Spain
B3 Turkey 0-1 Hungary
B3 Russia 3-1 Serbia
B4 Bulgaria 1-1 Republic of Ireland
B4 Finland 0-1 Wales
C3 Moldova 1-1 Kosovo
C3 Slovenia 0-0 Greece
D1 Faroe Islands 3-2 Malta
D1 Latvia 0-0 Andorra
Friday 4 September
A1 Italy 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
A1 Netherlands 1-0 Poland
B1 Norway 1-2 Austria
B1 Romania 1-1 Northern Ireland
B2 Scotland 1-1 Israel
B2 Slovakia 1-3 Czech Republic
C4 Belarus 0-2 Albania
C4 Lithuania 0-2 Kazakhstan
Saturday 5 September
A2 Iceland 0-1 England
A2 Denmark 0-2 Belgium
A3 Sweden 0-1 France
A3 Portugal 4-1 Croatia
C1 Cyprus 0-2 Montenegro
C1 Azerbaijan 1-2 Luxembourg
C2 North Macedonia 2-1 Armenia
C2 Estonia 0-1 Georgia
D2 Gibraltar 1-0 San Marino
Sunday 6 September
A4 Spain 4-0 Ukraine
A4 Switzerland 1-1 Germany
B3 Hungary 2-3 Russia
B3 Serbia 0-0 Turkey
B4 Republic of Ireland 0-1 Finland
B4 Wales 1-0 Bulgaria
C3 Kosovo 1-2 Greece
C3 Slovenia 1-0 Moldova
D1 Andorra 0-1 Faroe Islands
D1 Malta 1-1 Latvia
Matchday 2 will continue on September 7 and 8.
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