Nations League: How does it work and when is the draw?

The 2026-27 Uefa Nations League campaign will take place between September 2026 and June 2027, with the draw for the tournament commencing on Thursday, 12 February.

The competition began in 2018 and the format sees each nation compete across four different divisions.

Each side competes for promotion and relegation in every campaign, with the best-performing nations in the top league going on to reach the play-offs at the end of each campaign.

The best-performing nations in each Nations League campaign can also strengthen their chances of qualifying for World Cups and European Championships, but cannot directly qualify for major tournaments through the Nations League alone.

Of the four leagues, teams are split into smaller groups. Leagues A, B and C are split into four groups of four, while League D contains only six teams.

Uefa also operates a Nations League in international women's football with a similar format.

Thursday's draw will see the groups within each league decided.

In the top three leagues, teams have been ranked across four pots based on their performance from the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.

One team from each pot will then be drawn into groups of four in each league, determining each campaign's fixtures.

For League D, two groups of three teams will be drawn, with only six teams in League D compared to the 16 in each of the top three leagues.

Between September and November, each team in the Nations League will face every other team in their group twice; once at home and once away.

In League A, the top two teams from each group will make the quarter-finals later in that campaign. A knockout tournament between those eight teams will then play out to determine the overall Nations League winner.

In Leagues B, C and D, each group winner will be promoted up one league.

The teams finishing bottom of their groups in Leagues A, B and C will be relegated down one league.

Teams finishing second in groups from Leagues B, C and D will enter play-offs against teams that finish third in Leagues A, B and C in relegation play-offs.

The March international break in 2027 will see the quarter-finals from League A and the relegation play-offs between League A/B and League B/C take place.

The semi-finals and final for the Nations League campaign will take place in the international break of June 2027, as will the League C/D play-off.

The best-performing teams in the Nations League that do not qualify for the 2028 European Championships from the qualification campaign will enter to play-offs to earn the final qualifying spots for the tournament.

Click here to read article