Following a format change from the first season, League C was expanded from 15 to 16 teams. The league will consist of UEFA members ranked from 33–48 in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League overall ranking, to be split into four groups of four. Each team will play six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in September, October and November 2020. The winners of each group will be promoted to the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B, and the fourth-placed team of each group will advance to the relegation play-outs. 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], the best-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.
Teams
Team changes
The following are the team changes of League C from the 2018–19 season: The following team changes were initially set to occur in League C, but did not after no teams were relegated due to the format change by UEFA:
Seeding
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 confirmed 4 December 2019, and were based on the access list ranking.
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. Each group contains one team from each pot.
Groups
The original fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 3 March 2020 following the draw. On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee adjusted the league phase schedule for October and November 2020 to allow for the completion of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs. Following the change, a revised schedule for the October and November 2020 fixtures was released by UEFA on 26 June 2020. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA.
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Relegation play-outs
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. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA.
Summary
Matches
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Overall ranking
The 16 League C teams will be ranked 33rd to 48th overall in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:
The teams finishing first in the groups will be ranked 33rd to 36th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing second in the groups will be ranked 37th to 40th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing third in the groups will be ranked 41st to 44th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing fourth in the groups will be ranked 45th to 48th according to the results of the league phase.
