Nations League 2024-2025: rules change, dates and schedule of all matches

Kick-off of the 2024-2025 edition with several new features and a revised format.

For this fourth edition which begins this first week of September 2024, several new features have been implemented, including quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs.

To add to the stakes, four tickets for the 2026 World Cup play-offs will also be distributed to the best teams in this Nations League that did not qualify via the qualifiers. The Nations League is made up of four leagues in order of level, noted A, B, C and D, each comprising sixteen teams divided into four groups for Leagues A, B and C, and seven teams divided into two groups for League D.

Quarter-finals and play-offs unpublished

For the first time, quarter-finals will take place before the Final Four. The top two teams from each group in League A will therefore qualify for the direct elimination phase, whereas previously it was only the first team from each group. These quarter-finals will be played in classic two-legged matches, before the semi-finals and the final, which will be played in a single match in a host country, as in previous editions.

For the first time, there will also be promotion and relegation play-offs. As before, the last team in each group will go straight down to the lower league, and the first team in each group will be promoted to the higher league. The new feature is that each third-placed team will play a two-legged play-off to stay up, against a second-placed team in the lower league who will play for promotion. Since League D only has 7 teams, only the two teams that won their group will go up, and the two worst fourth-placed teams in League C will go down.

Here is the composition of the groups for the League of Nations with the presence of France in group 2 of League A with Belgium, Italy and Israel.

What is the schedule of the League of Nations 2024-2025 ?

The schedule of the League of Nations 2024-2025 is divided into several days from September 5, 2024 to June 10, 2025, the date of the final of the competition. The group stage begins in September 2024, the quarter-finals in March 2025 and the Final Four in June 2025.

Here is the entire 2022-2023 Nations League schedule:

• Day 1: September 5 to 7, 2024
• Day 2: September 8, 2024 nbsp;to September 10, 2024
• Day 3: from October 10 to 12, 2024
• Day 4: October 13th to October 15th 2024
• Day 5: November 14 to 16, 2024
• Day 6: November 17-19, 2024
• Quarter-finals: November 17-19, 2024 nbsp;to March 25, 2025.
• Semi-finals, small final and final: from June 2 to 10, 2025
• Dams: from March 17 to 25, 2025

What are the regulations for the 2024-2025 Nations League ?

The Nations League is organized into four leagues. The top four and the four runners-up from the League A groups qualify for the quarter-finals in two-legged matches, then the winners play in the Final Four (semi-finals + final). The winners of the groups in Leagues B, C and D will be promoted to the higher leagues and the last teams in Leagues A and B will be relegated to the lower leagues. Each team placed third in their group will play a two-legged play-off to stay up, against a second-placed team from the lower league who will play for promotion. As League D only has 7 teams, only the two teams that won their group go up, and the two worst fourth-placed teams in League C go down.

The 2024-2025 Nations League will distribute four precious tickets for the 2026 World Cup play-offs. The four best nations in the general ranking of the Nations League (a 4th-placed team in League A is just ahead of a 1st-placed team in League B, for example), who have not already qualified directly for the World Cup or the play-offs via the qualifiers, will win these tickets. These four teams will join the twelve teams that finished second in their group in the qualifiers, to be divided into four paths of four teams in the form of a semi-final and final in single matches, with each path winner qualifying for the World Cup.