Welcome to coverage of the draw for the 2020-21 edition of the Nations League! In case you have forgotten what it is all about, the Nations League is the competition which Uefa created in 2018 to make international matches more meaningful. Everybody thought it was a ridiculous idea at first (many still do). But there were actually some entertaining games, culminating with Portugal beating the Netherlands in the final last summer, and even Barney Ronay was a convert in the end. There have been a few tweaks to the format from the inaugural tournament. I’m not going to pretend I understand all the machinations because I’m not entirely sure Uefa itself does.
There are now four teams in each group in the top three divisions. The inaugural tournament provided four Euro 2020 places – these are still yet to be decided in the Euro 2020 play-offs this spring. This edition of the tournament does not guarantee Qatar World Cup 2022 places, but two teams could make it to Qatar from the 2020 Nations League because two of the 12 World Cup play-off places (for three spots) are available from this tournament. Still with me? Never mind.
Here’s my assistant Alan with a video explainer:
The main thing is that I will at least be able to tell you who will play who.
The pots for the draw
The 55 teams have been split into four leagues determined by their position in the Uefa National Team Coefficient Rankings (their performance in the last Nations League), so England (who made it to the final four in 2019) are in in pot one of League A with Portugal, Netherlands and Switzerland. They will face a team each from pot two, pot three and pot four in League A.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland could end up in the same group because they are all in different pots in League B. Any team can be drawn against any other team as there are deemed to be no political circumstances preventing this at the moment. Yes, apparently there’s not much going on politically at the moment. The group games will be played between September and November 2020. The finals will take place in summer 2021.
League A
Pot 1: Portugal, Netherlands, England, Switzerland
Pot 2: Belgium, France, Spain, Italy
Pot 3: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden
Pot 4: Croatia, Poland, Germany, Iceland
League B
Pot 1: Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic
Pot 2: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland
Pot 3: Slovakia, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland
Pot 4: Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Romania
League C
Pot 1: Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia
Pot 2: North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Cyprus
Pot 3: Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
Pot 4: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova
League D
Pot 1: Gibraltar, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Liechtenstein
Pot 2: Andorra, Malta, San Marino