The UEFA Men’s Nations League is a biennial tournament involving all 55 men’s national teams in UEFA, to be played in the twelve months following each Men’s World Cup or Men’s European Championship.

Teams in the Men’s Nations League are divided into four leagues. There are sixteen teams in League A, sixteen in League B, sixteen in League C, and seven in League D. Teams in League A play for the Men’s Nations League championship, and teams in Leagues B, C, and D play for promotion to the next higher league.

ALLOCATION TO LEAGUES

Teams have been allocated to the leagues based upon their performances in the 2020-1 UEFA Men’s Nations League.

• League A:
  • Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland
  • Promoted from League B: Austria, Czech Rep, Hungary, Wales
• League B:
  • Finland, Ireland Rep, Israel, Norway, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia
  • Promoted from League C: Albania, Armenia, Montenegro, Slovenia
  • Relegated from League A: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland, Sweden, Ukraine
• League C:
  • Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia
  • Promoted from League D: Faroe Is, Gibraltar
  • Relegated from League B: Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Türkı̇ye
• League D:
  • Andorra, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino
  • Relegated from League C: Estonia, Moldova

LEAGUE PHASE

In the league phase, each league is divided into four groups, and teams in each group play one another twice.

The league phase is normally held in September through November of even years. However, due to the 2022 Men’s World Cup, the 2022 league phase will be played in June and September.

The draw for the 2022 league phase was held on THU 16 DEC 2021 in Nyon, SUI.

In League A, each group contains four teams. The first placed teams in each group advance to the elimination phase, and the last placed teams are relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.

LEAGUE A CRO DEN FRA AUT ESP POR SUI CZE ITA HUN GER ENG NED BEL POL WAL		ADVANCE TO ELIMINATION PHASE CRO ITA NED ESP
		RELEGATED TO LEAGUE B AUT CZE ENG WAL

Likewise, in League B, each group contains four teams. The first placed teams are promoted to League A, and the last placed teams are relegated to League C.

LEAGUE B SCO UKR IRL ARM ISR ISL ALB RUS BIH FIN MNE ROU SRB NOR SVN SWE		PROMOTED TO LEAGUE A BIH ISR SCO SRB
		RELEGATED TO LEAGUE C ARM ROU RUS SWE

In League C, each group contains four teams. The first placed teams are promoted to League B.

Due to Russia’s disqualification from the 2024-5 UEFA Men’s Nations League, only one team will be relegated from League C. The two lowest ranked last placed teams take part in the relegation playoffs to determine which team is relegated to League D.

LEAGUE C TUR LUX FRO LTU GRE KOS NIR CYP KAZ AZE SVK BLR GEO BUL MKD GIB		PROMOTED TO LEAGUE B GEO GRE KAZ TUR
		RELEGATION PLAYOFFS GIB LTU

In League D, one group contains four teams, and the other group contains three teams. The first placed teams are promoted to League C.

LEAGUE D LVA MDA AND LIE EST MLT SMR

PROMOTED TO LEAGUE C EST LVA

ELIMINATION PHASE

The first placed teams in the four League A groups advance to the elimination phase, held in June of odd years. One of the participating teams is chosen to host the elimination phase. The Netherlands have been selected to host in 2023.

The teams have been drawn into two semifinal matches. The winners contest the final match, and the losers contest the third place match.

ELIMINATION PHASE NED CRO CRO ESP ESP ITA   NED ITA

CHAMPION ESP

PLAYOFFS

The two lowest ranked last placed teams in League C take part in the relegation playoff, played in MAR 2024 over two legs. The winning team on aggregate goals remains in League C, and the losing team is relegated to League D.

LEAGUE C RELEGATION PLAYOFFS GIB LTU

RELEGATED TO LEAGUE D GIB

MEN’S EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION

Twelve of the teams that do not finish in the top two of their groups in the qualifiers for the 2024 Men’s European Championship will have another opportunity to qualify based on their performance in the 2022-3 Men’s Nations League.

The playoffs will involve the four highest ranked teams in each of Leagues A-C who did not already qualify through the group phase of the Men’s European Championship qualifiers. If any of Leagues A-C have less than four teams that did not already qualify, teams from League D will have the opportunity to fill the remaining places.

The twelve teams will play two rounds of playoffs, with the three winners qualifying for Men’s Euro 2024.