The road to EURO 2028 starts tonight. The 2026–27 UEFA Nations League opens on 24 September with 54 nations in four leagues — and beyond promotion, relegation and a trophy in June 2027, it is set to hand its group winners a second route into the EURO 2028 play-offs.
What starts tonight
The Nations League is Europe's competitive home for international football between the big tournaments. Every UEFA nation is placed in a league by strength, plays the teams in its group home and away, and moves up or down depending on where it finishes.
- League A — 16 teams in four groups of four: the continent's strongest sides.
- League B — 16 teams in four groups of four.
- League C — 16 teams in four groups of four.
- League D — 6 teams in two groups of three. This is the final edition to include a League D.
League A opens tonight at 18:45 GMT with both games in Group A2 — Netherlands v Germany and Serbia v Greece — and both in Group A4 — Portugal v Wales and Norway v Denmark. League B is also under way, with Austria v Israel and Kosovo v Republic of Ireland in Group B3, and League D starts with Andorra v Malta (D1) and Liechtenstein v Lithuania (D2). The rest of matchday one follows by 26 September.
All 14 groups
The 54 nations are split into four leagues by strength — every one of them now has something to play for.
League A
| Group | Teams |
|---|---|
| A1 |  France Italy Belgium Türkiye |
| A2 |  Germany Netherlands Serbia Greece |
| A3 |  Spain Croatia England Czechia |
| A4 |  Portugal Denmark Norway Wales |
Group A3 is the one to watch for a heavyweight collision: Spain and England in the same four. Group A2 opens with Netherlands against Germany on the very first night. Portugal are the holders, having beaten Spain in the 2025 final.
League B
| Group | Teams |
|---|---|
| B1 |  Scotland Switzerland Slovenia North Macedonia |
| B2 |  Hungary Ukraine Georgia Northern Ireland |
| B3 |  Israel Austria Republic of Ireland Kosovo |
| B4 |  Poland Bosnia and Herzegovina Romania Sweden |
League C
| Group | Teams |
|---|---|
| C1 |  Albania Finland Belarus San Marino |
| C2 |  Montenegro Armenia Cyprus Latvia |
| C3 |  Kazakhstan Slovakia Faroe Islands Moldova |
| C4 |  Iceland Bulgaria Estonia Luxembourg |
League D
| Group | Teams |
|---|---|
| D1 |  Gibraltar Malta Andorra |
| D2 |  Lithuania Azerbaijan Liechtenstein |
How the competition works
The league phase is six matchdays, packed into three international windows:
- 24–26 September and 27–29 September 2026 — matchdays one and two
- 1–3 October and 4–6 October 2026 — matchdays three and four
- 12–14 November and 15–17 November 2026 — matchdays five and six
In League A, the top two in each group reach the quarter-finals, played over two legs between 25 and 30 March 2027. The four winners go to the Nations League Finals on 9–13 June 2027 — semi-finals, a third-place match and the final. The host is expected to be chosen from the four finalists.
At the bottom, the two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams drop straight into League B. The other two fourth-placed sides and the two lowest-ranked third-placed sides face League B's runners-up in two-legged promotion/relegation play-offs in March 2027. Group winners in Leagues B, C and D are promoted, and League B's bottom sides meet League C's runners-up in play-offs of their own.
The link to EURO 2028
EURO 2028 will be played in England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with 24 teams at the finals. Qualifying is its own competition, with the draw in Belfast on 6 December 2026 and the group stage running from March to November 2027:
- 12 qualifying groups of four or five teams.
- 20 places go directly — the 12 group winners and the 8 best runners-up.
- 2 places are reserved for the host nations — the two best-ranked hosts that do not qualify directly.
- The remaining places — between two and four, depending on how many host slots are used — are settled in play-offs in March 2028 (semi-finals 23–25 March, finals 26–28 March).
This is where the Nations League comes in. Under the published qualifying format, the play-off field combines the lowest-ranked qualifying runners-up with Nations League group winners from Leagues A, B and C that have not already qualified. UEFA describes the link as the Nations League giving teams a second chance to reach the finals.
In plain terms: a nation that wins its Nations League group this autumn keeps a door open to EURO 2028 even if its qualifying campaign goes wrong next year. For a League C side, a strong September to November can be worth a play-off path to a major tournament.
Key dates at a glance
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 24–26 September 2026 | Nations League matchday one |
| 15–17 November 2026 | Nations League matchday six — groups decided |
| 6 December 2026 | EURO 2028 qualifying draw, Belfast |
| 25–30 March 2027 | League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs |
| March–November 2027 | EURO 2028 qualifying groups |
| 9–13 June 2027 | Nations League Finals |
| 23–28 March 2028 | EURO 2028 play-offs |
How we read Nations League games
International football is a different read from the club game. Squads meet a few days before kick-off, and for most teams tonight's game is their first competitive match since the summer — so recent form carries less weight than usual. Our engine rates every nation on its full competitive record, adjusts for the gap in world ranking between the two sides, and looks at how each team's own games have tended to play out, home and away.
Every call is published before kick-off, and every result is recorded on our public results page — win or lose. Every Nations League game on the board gets a Pundit Kings prediction through the autumn, all the way to the Finals in June. See today's board at [punditkings.com](/) and every settled call on the [results page](/results.html).