2024–25 UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-offs
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | League A/B and B/C play-offs: 20–23 March 2025 League C/D play-offs: 26–31 March 2026 |
| Teams | 20 |
2026–27 → | |
The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-offs will be the promotion and relegation play-offs of the 2024–25 season of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA. The play-offs, newly added for this season, will determine some of the teams that will be promoted, relegated or remain in their respective leagues for the 2026–27 season.
Format
[edit]On 25 January 2023, the UEFA Executive Committee confirmed an altered format for the 2024–25 Nations League, including the addition of the promotion/relegation play-offs.[1][2] In addition to the automatic promotion and relegation decided by the league phase, the promotion/relegation play-offs will determine the final composition of the leagues for the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League.[3] The matches will be played home-and-away over two legs. If the team from the higher league is the winner, both teams will remain in their respective leagues, whereas if the team from the lower league wins, they will be promoted to the higher league, with the losers relegated to the lower league.[4]
The match-ups in the promotion/relegation play-offs are as follows:[5]
- The third-placed teams of League A will face the runners-up of League B (four ties in March 2025).
- The third-placed teams of League B will face the runners-up of League C (four ties in March 2025).
- The two best-ranked fourth-placed teams of League C will face the runners-up of League D (two ties in March 2026).
- If any of the teams due to participate in the League C/D play-offs qualifies for the second round (play-offs) of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification in March 2026, the League C/D play-offs will not be played, and all teams will remain in their respective leagues.
The teams from the higher leagues will be seeded, and will play the second leg at home. In the two-legged ties, the team that scores more goals on aggregate is the winner. If the aggregate score is level, extra time is played (the away goals rule is not applied). If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner.[6]
Qualified teams
[edit]The following teams qualified for the promotion/relegation play-offs.[7]
| Group | Runners-up | Third place |
|---|---|---|
| B1 |  Ukraine
|
 Georgia
|
| B2 |  Greece
|
 Republic of Ireland
|
| B3 |  Austria
|
 Slovenia
|
| B4 |  Turkey
|
 Iceland
|
| Group | Runners-up | Fourth place (best two qualify) |
|---|---|---|
| C1 |  Slovakia
|
— |
| C2 |  Kosovo
|
— |
| C3 |  Bulgaria
|
 Luxembourg
|
| C4 |  Armenia
|
 Latvia
|
Draw
[edit]The draw for the promotion/relegation play-offs was held on 22 November 2024, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, along with the draw for the League A quarter-finals and semi-finals.[5][8][9] In the draw, the teams from the higher leagues were seeded and drawn to host the second leg, while the teams from the lower leagues were unseeded and drawn to host the first leg. First, all teams from the unseeded pot were drawn into pairings in order (from pairing 1–4 for A/B and B/C, and pairing 1–2 for C/D), after which teams from the seeded pot were randomly drawn into the pairings (in numerical order) as their opponents.[10]
No conditions on prohibited clashes applied in the draw.[note 1][8]
Schedule
[edit]The League A/B and B/C play-off matches are scheduled for 20 and 23 March 2025. To ensure enough teams are available for the March 2025 window of World Cup qualifying, the League C/D play-off matches are scheduled for 26 and 31 March 2026.[11] However, if any team participating in the League C/D play-offs qualifies for the World Cup qualifying play-offs, then the League C/D play-offs will be cancelled, and the teams will remain in their respective leagues.[6][12]
The kick-off times were confirmed by UEFA following the draw on 22 November 2024.[11][13]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 2] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
League A vs League B
[edit]The League A/B play-offs will feature the four third-placed teams of League A against the four second-placed teams of League B.
Seeding
[edit]
|
|
Summary
[edit]| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 1 |  Hungary | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Ukraine | 2 |  Belgium | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Austria | 3 |  Serbia | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Greece | 4 |  Scotland | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
Matches
[edit]League B vs League C
[edit]The League B/C play-offs will feature the four third-placed teams of League B against the four second-placed teams of League C.
Seeding
[edit]
|
|
Summary
[edit]| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kosovo | 1 | Iceland | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Bulgaria | 2 | Republic of Ireland | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Armenia | 3 | Georgia | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
| Slovakia | 4 | Slovenia | 20 Mar | 23 Mar |
Matches
[edit]League C vs League D
[edit]The League C/D play-offs will feature the two best-ranked fourth-placed teams of League C against the two second-placed teams of League D.
Seeding
[edit]
|
|
Summary
[edit]| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Gibraltar  | 1 | Latvia | 26 Mar '26 | 31 Mar '26 |
Malta  | 2 | Luxembourg | 26 Mar '26 | 31 Mar '26 |
Matches
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Due to the league allocation, all but one of the prohibited clashes were not possible (Armenia–Azerbaijan, Gibraltar–Spain, Kosovo–Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo–Serbia). The only possible prohibited clash (Belarus–Ukraine) did not have both teams advance to the promotion/relegation play-offs.
- ^ CET (UTC+1) for the matches in March 2025 and on 26 March 2026, and CEST (UTC+2) for the matches on 31 March 2026.
- ^ Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine are required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.[14]
- ^ Iceland will play their home match at Estadio Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain,[15] due to construction on Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, the only Icelandic venue which meets UEFA requirements.[16]
References
[edit]- ^ "New formats for UEFA men's national team competitions approved". UEFA. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ "Nations League set to expand with new knockout round from 2024/25". UEFA. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ "2024/25 UEFA Nations League: All you need to know". UEFA.com. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "New formats for UEFA men's national team competitions" (PDF). UEFA. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ a b "2024/25 UEFA Nations League knockout stage and play-off draws". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA Nations League, 2024/25" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 December 2023. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Nations League final standings: Who made the quarter-finals? Who's been promoted? Who's been relegated? Who's in the play-offs?". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
- ^ a b "UNL 2024/25 – Knock-out stage and play-off draw – Draw procedure" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 21 November 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
- ^ "Nations League knockout stage and play-off draw: Italy vs Germany among quarter-final ties". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
- ^ "2024/25 UEFA Nations League knockout stage and play-off draws". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b "2024/25 Nations League: All the fixtures and results". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
- ^ "Draw procedure for the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 knockout stage and play-off draw – Fixture list procedure for the European Qualifiers 2024–26" (ZIP). UEFA Circular Letter. No. 64/2024. Union of European Football Associations. 11 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
- ^ "2024/25 UEFA Nations League: Play-off draw" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
- ^ "Decisions from today's extraordinary UEFA Executive Committee meeting". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Murcia í mars" [Murcia in March] (in Icelandic). Football Association of Iceland. 29 November 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ Sindri Sverrisson (19 November 2024). "Ísland neyðist í fyrsta sinn til að spila heimaleik erlendis" [Iceland is forced to play a home game abroad for the first time]. Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 23 November 2024.