The first round of the 2024-2025 UEFA Nations League will begin on September 5, as Spain start their title defence with an away match against Serbia in Belgrade.

Here’s everything to know about the fourth edition of the tournament:

⚽ What is the UEFA Nations League?

The Nations League is a biennial international men’s football competition played by 54 teams that are member associations of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

The first edition of the Nations League took place in 2018-19 and the competition is played in a league structure, featuring promotion and relegation.

UEFA, the governing body for European football, says the tournament was devised “to minimise meaningless friendlies and give nations competitive encounters with equally ranked teams”.

⚽ Which teams are playing in the 2024-2025 Nations League?

The 54 participating teams were divided into four leagues based on their results in the 2022-2023 Nations League, the last edition of the competition.

Teams were then divided into groups, again based on their 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League rankings:

League A

Group A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland
Group A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel
Group A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia

League B 

Group B1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia
Group B2: England, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Greece
Group B3: Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Kazakhstan
Group B4: Wales, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey

League C 

Group C1: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Estonia
Group C2: Romania, Kosovo, Cyprus, Lithuania
Group C3: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Belarus
Group C4: Armenia, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Latvia

League D

Group D1: Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein
Group D2: Moldova, Malta, Andorra

Spain lifted the 2022-23 Nations League title after beating Croatia in the final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on June 18, 2023. La Roja will head into this year’s competition as strong favourites, having recently won Euro 2024 [Martin Meissner/AP]

⚽ When will the tournament be staged?

The league phase will feature six rounds.

Match day 1: September 5-7, 2024
Match day 2: September 8-10, 2024
Match day 3: October 10-12, 2024
Match day 4: October 13-15, 2024
Match day 5: November 14-16, 2024
Match day 6: November 17-19, 2024

Knockout round playoff draw: November 2024

Knockout round playoffs: March 20-25, 2025

League A quarterfinals: March 20-25, 2025

Final tournament: June 4-8, 2025

⚽ What is the format?

Each team in Leagues A, B and C will play six matches in their group, while teams in League D will play four. All fixtures will be on a home-and-away basis.
The League A group winners and runners-up will play in two-legged quarterfinals, with the winners of these ties qualifying for the final four.
The fourth-placed teams in Leagues A and B are automatically relegated to Leagues B and C respectively. The two lowest-ranked fourth-placed teams in League C are relegated to League D, the bottom tier.
The four group winners in Leagues B and C, and the two group winners in League D, are automatically promoted to Leagues A, B and C, respectively.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin (left) hands the inaugural UEFA Nations League trophy to Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo after his team defeated the Netherlands in the final in Porto on June 9, 2019. Portugal have a favourable group stage draw in League A this time [Armando Franca/AP]

⚽ Which team is not playing in the Nations League?

Russia is the only team that will not play in the 2024-2025 Nations League.

Both UEFA and world football’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), decided in February 2022 that all Russian teams – national and club sides – would be suspended from participation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

⚽ Who are the favourites to win the 2024-2025 Nations League?

Spain, which won the Nations League in 2022-23 and the Euro 2024 title, is among the tournament’s favourites.

Former champions France and Portugal, along with Germany and England, are considered to be strong contenders.

⚽ Which countries have won the UEFA Nations League?

2018-2019: Portugal – beat Netherlands 1-0 in the final
2020-2021: France – beat Spain 2-1 in the final
2022-2023: Spain – beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties in the final

France’s UEFA Nations League triumph in 2021 came three years after they won the World Cup in Russia. They have a tough group in League A, having been drawn alongside Euro 2020 winners Italy [Luca Bruno/AP]

⚽ How much is the prize money for winning the UEFA Nations League?

The exact prize money for the 2024-2025 Nations League has yet to be disclosed.

At the 2022-2023 Nations League, Spain collected 10.5 million euros ($11.7m) for winning the event, while runners-up Croatia received 9 million euros ($10m).

⚽ How is World Cup qualification linked to the UEFA Nations League?

The 2024-2025 Nations League will be partially linked with European qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The 12 group winners after the first round (group stage) will qualify directly for the World Cup, while the runners-up of each group will enter the World Cup playoffs.

The four best-ranked Nations League group winners who do not qualify either of those ways will also go into the World Cup playoffs.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The global showpiece event will be the first edition of the quadrennial tournament in which 48 teams participate [Noah K. Murray/AP]

Throughout the 2024-2025 UEFA Nations League, you can keep up to date on all the latest football news, as well as live text commentary of select matches, via the Al Jazeera Sport football page.