The UEFA Nations League is a national-team competition in which teams play in leagues and groups, with results determining both standings and movement between leagues. In 2026/27, the top two teams in each League A group qualify for two-legged quarter-finals, while promotion and relegation depend on league position and, for several teams, play-offs. These rules are specific to the 2026/27 edition.
How the 2026/27 Nations League is organized
UEFA divides the competition into four leagues: A, B, C and D. Leagues A, B and C each have four groups of four teams. League D has two groups of three or four teams. Teams in a group play each other twice, once at home and once away. A win earns three points, a draw earns one, and a defeat earns none. UEFA’s 2026/27 competition overview lists the league-phase schedule as September to November 2026: matchdays 1–4 run from 24 September to 6 October, and matchdays 5–6 from 12 to 17 November.
Group position is determined by points and UEFA’s tie-break procedure. When teams are level, the regulations first compare results among the tied teams, then proceed through wider group criteria; the full sequence is set out in the 2026/27 regulations.
How promotion and relegation work in 2026/27
The movement rules are not simply “the group winner goes up and the last-placed team goes down.” The 2026/27 arrangement includes automatic movement and play-offs, with cross-group rankings used where UEFA needs to determine places. UEFA adjusted the system as it prepares a different league structure for 2028/29.
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- League B: Group winners are promoted to League A. League B runners-up enter League A/B play-offs against specified League A finishers; fourth-placed teams contest League B/C play-offs against League C runners-up. Third-placed teams remain in League B.
- League C: Group winners are promoted to League B. Runners-up enter League B/C play-offs, while third- and fourth-placed teams remain in League C, subject to the specified movement and ranking arrangements.
- League D: All teams are promoted to League C under this edition’s arrangement.
- League A: The two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams are automatically relegated. Other specified League A finishers play League B runners-up in League A/B play-offs.
Because the play-off pairings and allocations depend on UEFA’s precise rankings and positions across groups, a group finish alone may not tell a team’s final destination. The official 2026/27 overview gives the edition-specific movement details. It schedules League A/B and League B/C play-offs for 25–30 March 2027, and League C/D play-offs for 23–28 March 2028.
How teams qualify for the Nations League finals
The top two teams in each of the four League A groups—eight teams in total—reach the quarter-finals. Group winners are seeded and drawn against runners-up from different groups. Each quarter-final is played over two legs, one at each team’s home ground, with the winner decided by aggregate goals. The round and qualification provisions are set out in the 2026/27 knockout-stage regulations.
The four quarter-final winners advance to a finals tournament: two single-leg semi-finals, a third-place match and a single-leg final. Winning a League A group therefore earns a quarter-final place, not the Nations League title. UEFA has scheduled the 2026/27 finals tournament for 9–13 June 2027; as of its overview updated 3 October 2026, the host had not been confirmed.
What is planned for 2028/29
UEFA announced a planned change to three leagues of 18 teams each from 2028/29, generally divided into three groups of six. Under the announced plan, teams would play six matches against five different opponents. Because the competition has 55 participating teams, League C is planned to include one group of seven, and its calendar would start one international window earlier. UEFA said the details would be fine-tuned, so this is the announced plan rather than a guarantee that every implementation detail is final. See UEFA’s announcement on the new concept for men’s national-team competitions.
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UEFA says the Nations League was designed to reduce “meaningless friendlies” and give national teams competitive matches against similarly ranked opponents. That describes the organizer’s stated rationale; it is not a measured claim about the competition’s results.
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