2020–21 UEFA Nations League


The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League will be the second season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition will be held from September to November 2020, September or October 2021 and March 2022. The defending champions are Portugal.

Format

On 24 September 2019, UEFA announced that a revised format would be used for the 2020–21 edition, the second season of the competition. The 55 UEFA national teams were divided into four leagues, with Leagues A, B and C featuring 16 teams each, divided into four groups of four teams. League D will feature 7 teams divided into two groups, with one containing four teams and the other containing three. The teams were allocated to leagues based on the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League overall ranking. Each team will now play six matches within their group, except for one group in League D that will play four, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in September, October and November 2020. This format ensures that for almost all groups, teams in the same group play their last matches at the same time. It also increases the number of total league phase matches from 138 to 162, and minimises the number of friendly matches.
In the top division, League A, teams compete to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four group winners of League A qualify for the Nations League Finals, which is played in a knockout format consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off, and final. The semi-final pairings will be determined by means of an open draw. The host country will be selected among the four qualified teams by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winners of the final crowned as the Nations League champions. The video assistant referee system will be used in the Nations League Finals.
Teams also compete for promotion and relegation to a higher or lower league. In Leagues B, C and D, the group winners are promoted, while the last-placed teams of each group in Leagues A and B are relegated. As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams that are to be relegated will be determined by play-outs in March 2022. Based on the [|Nations League overall ranking] of the fourth-placed teams, the first-ranked team will face the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team will face the third-ranked team. Two ties will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs will remain in League C, while the loser will be relegated to League D. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, with extra time played if away goals are also equal. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, with a penalty shoot-out used to decide the winner if no goals are scored during extra time.

Tiebreakers for group ranking

If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:
  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
  5. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
  6. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. Higher number of wins in all group matches;
  10. Higher number of away wins in all group matches;
  11. Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches.
  12. Position in the [|2020–21 UEFA Nations League access list].
Notes

Criteria for league ranking

Individual league rankings are established according to the following criteria:
  1. Position in the group;
  2. Higher number of points;
  3. Superior goal difference;
  4. Higher number of goals scored;
  5. Higher number of goals scored away from home;
  6. Higher number of wins;
  7. Higher number of wins away from home;
  8. Lower disciplinary points total.
  9. Position in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League access list.
In order to rank teams in League D, which is composed of different sized groups, the results against the fourth-placed team in Group D1 are not taken into account for the purposes of comparing teams placed first, second and third in their respective groups.
The ranking of the top 4 teams in League A are determined by their finish in the Nations League Finals:
  1. The winner is ranked 1st;
  2. The runner-up is ranked 2nd;
  3. The third-placed team is ranked 3rd;
  4. The fourth-placed team is ranked 4th.

    Criteria for overall ranking

The overall UEFA Nations League rankings are established as follows:
  1. The 16 League A teams are ranked 1st to 16th according to their league rankings.
  2. The 16 League B teams are ranked 17th to 32nd according to their league rankings.
  3. The 16 League C teams are ranked 33rd to 48th according to their league rankings.
  4. The 7 League D teams are ranked 49th to 55th according to their league rankings.

    2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

The Nations League will be partially linked with European qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with the format confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on 4 December 2019. The qualifying structure will depend on results from the Nations League, although to a lesser degree than the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs. The ten group winners after the first round will qualify directly for the World Cup. Then, the second round will be contested by the ten group runners-up, along with the best two Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group. The play-offs will be split into three play-off paths, played in two single-match knockout rounds, from which an additional three teams will also qualify.

Schedule

Below is the schedule of the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League.
The Nations League Finals, originally scheduled for 2–6 June 2021, will be moved to September or October 2021 following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheduling of the league phase was reviewed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 17 June 2020. At the meeting, UEFA decided to adjust the match schedule for October and November 2020 in order for an additional match to be played in each window. This allows for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs, along with the postponed March 2020 international friendlies, to be played on 7–8 October and 11–12 November 2020. The changes to the International Match Calendar for October and November 2020 were approved by the FIFA Council on 25 June 2020.
StageRoundDates
League phaseMatchday 13–5 September 2020
League phaseMatchday 26–8 September 2020
League phaseMatchday 310–11 October 2020
League phaseMatchday 413–14 October 2020
League phaseMatchday 514–15 November 2020
League phaseMatchday 617–18 November 2020
FinalsSemi-finalsSeptember or October 2021
FinalsThird place play-offSeptember or October 2021
FinalsFinalSeptember or October 2021
Relegation play-outsFirst leg24–25 March 2022
Relegation play-outsSecond leg28–29 March 2022

The original fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 3 March 2020 following the draw. However, due to the change of the league phase calendar, a revised schedule for the October and November 2020 fixtures was released by UEFA on 26 June 2020.
The relegation play-outs of League C are scheduled on the same dates as the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-offs. If one or more of the teams due to participate in the relegation play-outs also qualifies for the World Cup qualifying play-offs, the relegation play-outs will be cancelled and the teams in League C ranked 47th and 48th in the Nations League overall ranking will be automatically relegated.

Seeding

All 55 UEFA national teams will enter the competition. Due to the format change of the competition, no teams were actually relegated from the 2018–19 season. In addition to the group winners, the second-placed teams in Leagues C and D, along with the best-ranked third-placed team of League D, were also promoted.
In the 2020–21 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2018–19 Nations League overall ranking, with a slight modification: teams that were originally relegated in the previous season were ranked immediately below teams promoted prior to the format change. The seeding pots for the league phase were based on the access list ranking. The seeding pots, draw procedure and fixture list procedures were confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on 4 December 2019.
Originally promoted in previous season
Originally relegated in previous season
*Promoted after format change


The draw for the league phase took place at the Beurs van Berlage Conference Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 3 March 2020, 18:00 CET. While the draw typically has restrictions for prohibited clashes, winter venues and excessive travel, no conditions applied to the draw given the allocation of the teams to both leagues and pots.

League A

Group A1

Group A2

Group A3

Group A4

Nations League Finals

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

League B

Group B1

Group B2

Group B3

Group B4

League C

Group C1

Group C2

Group C3

Group C4

Relegation play-outs

League D

Group D1

Group D2

Overall ranking

The results of each team will be used to calculate the overall ranking of the competition.
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