The UEFA Nations League has been around since 2018, and has a very different structure to other soccer competitions. Far from an auxiliary soccer tournament, this competition is crucially important for nations that want to break into the European Championship or the FIFA World Cup. Soccer, like all other hugely popular sports in the world, is constantly evolving and the structure of even the most prestigious and historical championships are not exempt from change.
Understanding how the UEFA Nations League works is crucial to appreciating this wildly volatile and tantalizing tournament. Again, it is quite a new system for a soccer tournament, but if you are a hockey fan then we can best liken this competition to the IIHF World Cup.
How the UEFA Nations League Works
The UEFA Nations League is held once every two years and features all 55 UEFA nations. The 55 teams play in 4 leagues: League A, League B, League C, and League D. Leagues A, B and C all feature 16 teams, and the remaining 7 teams are assigned into League D. These rankings are determined by the UEFA coefficient, which take into consideration each nation’s historical results and statistics at the major international competitions: the World Cup and the European Championship (and their qualifiers).
League Group Stage of UEFA Nations League
Each tournament is broken into 2 parts, the League phase and then the playoffs. The league phase generally begins in September and concludes in November. The 16 teams in leagues A, B and C are seeded into 4 groups, and play in a round robin format group stage. Group D features 2 groups, which also play in a round robin group format. At the end of the group stage, the winners and runners up of the League A Groups advance to the quarterfinals. The third-placed teams have to play in a relegation playoffs, whereas the nations that finish last in their groups are relegated to League B directly.
In Group B, the nations that win their groups are directly promoted to League A, whereas the League B group stage runners up have to play in a promotion playoff against the League A third-placed teams. The third-placed teams in the League B groups have to play in a relegation playoffs with the runners up of the League C groups. The teams that finish last in League B groups are relegated to League C. And the League C works the same way, with the winners all receiving promotion to League B and the runners up playing against the third-placed teams in League B.
The losers of the League C groups are either directly relegated to League D or play in a relegation playoffs. The best 2 of the group phase losers play in a relegation playoffs, whereas the two teams with the worst records are directly relegated. Over in Group D, the top 2 teams receive direct promotion, whereas the second placed teams qualify for the promotion playoffs.
That was all a bit long, you can check out the format visually through the table below.
| League A Groups A1-4 | League B Groups B1-4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Placing | What Happens Next | Group Placing | What Happens Next |
| First Place | Advance to UNL Finals | First Place | Promotion to League A |
| Second Place | Advance to UNL Finals | Second Place | A/B Promotion/Relegation Playoffs |
| Third Place | A/B Promotion/Relegation Playoffs | Third Place | B/C Promotion/Relegation Playoffs |
| Fourth Place | Relegation to League B | Fourth Place | Relegation to League C |
| League C Groups C1-4 | League D Groups D1-2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Placing | What Happens Next | Group Placing | What Happens Next |
| First Place | Promotion to League B | First Place | Promotion to League D |
| Second Place | B/C Promotion/Relegation Playoffs | Second Place | C/D Promotion/Relegation Playoffs |
| Third Place | Stays in League C | Third Place | Stays in League D |
| Fourth Place | C/D Promotion/Relegation Playoffs or Relegation to League D | Fourth Place | Stays in League D |
UEFA Nations Finals Playoffs
The relegation/promotion playoffs are always exciting for up and comer nations, or big ones that want to avoid the embarrassment of relegation. But the most important part of the playoffs are the League A Finals. The final 8 teams play in a two leg quarterfinals in March of the following year. Then, in June the remaining 4 teams play the semifinals, third place playoff, and the highly anticipated UEFA Nations League Finals.
Founding of the UEFA Nations League and History
Talks about creating a new international soccer league started back in 2013, with President Yngve Hallen of the Norwegian soccer association putting forward the idea of hosting a third full national team tournament, alongside the World Cup and Euros. The idea was to get rid of the international friendly games, and to provide soccer fans and players with another competitive soccer tournament to look forward to. Initially, it was met with disdain from soccer players and managers, who claimed that the soccer schedule was already quite full and the toll of another competition would ask too much of players. Nevertheless, the league was created and first launched in 2018.
Portugal, the winners of the 2016 Euros, won the first UEFA Nations League Cup, beating the Netherlands 1-0 in the highly anticipated final. The competition has since been won by France, and most recently, Spain.
Relationship with the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship
Though there is mobility among the leagues, the fact that it is held every 2 years and that some teams must play in relegation/promotional playoffs make it difficult for lesser ranking teams to reach and stay in League A. But lesser ranking nations have a great perk to take advantage of in this league.
Teams can receive better seeding and can even head to the extra World Cup qualifying playoffs if they do well in the UEFA Nations League. Naturally, these perks only apply to teams in League A, spanning to the 8 finalists of the UEFA Nations league, and the best ranking 4 teams that narrowly missed out on making the last 8.
Nations that win their World Cup qualifying group don’t have anything to worry about, but if there are any top UEFA Nations League teams that miss out on the top spot, they may receive an extra shot to get into the World Cup. This works to a larger extent with the UEFA European Championship. In those competitions, tiebreakers in the group stage can also be determined by nations’ European Qualifiers overall ranking, which is directly influenced by how the nations fared in the UEFA Nations League.
How to Bet on the UEFA Nations League
After its foundation, the UEFA Nations League was a bit tricky to bet on. The initial games saw a lot of major upsets to big nations, mainly because of the top players’ conflicting schedules. On the other hand, there have been numerous players who have shone for their nation, despite being quite out of form at a club level. But in the following few years, the tournament has become more established and the nations have settled better into its revolutionary format.
When it comes to betting on this league, then you should always bear in mind that the group stage games take place during the international breaks during the domestic league regular season. There may be big omissions or nations lining up with relatively lesser known players, which may have a drastic impact on how the games play out.
These changes certainly impact the betting odds and give birth to epic betting opportunities. Just like the World Cup and other big international soccer tournaments, you can expect full betting coverage on UEFA Nations League games. From player bets to team totals and game props, there are masses of bets to be had. You can also revel in the huge volume of futures bets, covering all the action from the group stage up to the UEFA Nations League Finals, and even the promotion/relegation battles. The games are played in quick succession during the international breaks, so there is plenty of room for longshot parlay betting and intricate SGPs, personalized to meet your risk to reward ratio.
Be sure to check back with us regularly for tips about betting on the UEFA Nations League, and predictions from our top soccer cappers. You can also freely use our betting tools, such as the odds calculator or hedge betting calculator to improve your edge and reel in those big wins.
