ROLL CALL OF WINNERS AND LOSERS
Portugal, France, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark advance to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals will take place in March 2025, and will be drawn on November 22 (the top four teams are the seeds, and teams from the same group in the first stage will not meet again). The pre-determined codes for the semi-finals will also be drawn at the same time as the quarter-finals. One of the four countries with teams in the semi-finals will be chosen as the host country, hosting the semi-finals and final. The final will take place on June 8, 2025.
Germany qualify for Nations League quarter-finals
Poland, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Switzerland relegated (to League B). The promoted teams from League B are Czech Republic, England, Norway, Wales. The second-to-last teams in League A are Scotland, Belgium, Hungary, Serbia, and will face the second-placed teams in League B - Ukraine, Greece, Austria, Turkey - in the promotion/relegation play-off round. This play-off round will take place in March 2025 and will also be drawn on November 22. The teams from League A are the seeds, and will have home advantage in the second leg of the play-off.
Overall, it was a successful season for the UK. England and Wales both got promoted from League B. Northern Ireland got promoted from League C. Scotland from League A at least avoided the direct relegation (they will play a play-off to stay in the top flight). And it is no surprise that Sweden from League C got promoted to League B. Sporting Lisbon's rising star Viktor Gyokeres scored four goals in Sweden's 6-0 win over Azerbaijan in the group stage, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals in League C. Leading the scoring list in League A is Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 5 goals), in League B is Erling Haaland (Norway, 7 goals).
Germany and Denmark are also considered successful when they passed the Nations League group stage for the first time. The champions of the previous 3 tournaments (Portugal, France, Spain) will all continue to compete for the title in this fourth season. The teams that reached the final (Croatia, Netherlands) this year also entered the knockout round. There were no significant surprises in League A as well as the whole tournament in general. The "sensational" factor was pushed up by the press when announcing that "the world's bottom team San Marino won the right to be promoted to the Nations League", in fact this team topped a group with only 2 other opponents as weak as them in League D: Gibraltar and Liechtenstein!
A SERIES OF NEW STARS APPEAR
For the average teams, the Nations League this season is important in that the group stage performance is directly related (and largely determines) their position in the upcoming FIFA rankings (announced on November 28). And that ranking is the basis for choosing the seeded teams for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe. This qualifier has 12 groups, with the cruel fact that only the group winners are guaranteed a ticket to the World Cup. Being included in the list of 12 seeded teams is an extremely important detail. On the other hand, the 4 teams with the best results in the Nations League (to be officially announced after the tournament ends) who do not finish first or second in their group in the World Cup qualifiers will be granted a play-off spot. So, it cannot be said that the recent Nations League group stage was not important!
Dozens of players have had the opportunity to debut for the first time in the big teams in this season's Nations League. A remarkable coincidence: the most successful teams are also the ones that have actively tested new players. Spain introduced Aitor Paredes, Marc Casado, Pablo Barrios, Samu Aghehowa. Germany introduced Alexander Nubel, Oliver Baumann, Tim Kleindienst, Angelo Stiller, Jamie Leweling, Jonathan Burkardt. England had Tino Livramento, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Lewis Hall, Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes, Curtis Jones, Morgan Rogers, Noni Madueke, Levi Colwill. Italy had Nicolo Rovella, Niccolo Pisilli, Daniel Maldini, Marco Brescianini... Also in this season's Nations League, the legend was confirmed, when Daniel Maldini followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, becoming the first family with 3 generations wearing the Italian national team shirt.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bi-quyet-thanh-cong-o-nations-league-185241120230426683.htm
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