The fourth edition of the UEFA Nations League begins on September 5. The group phase of the tournament will last until November 19, and then the playoffs will be held in 2025 and even 2026.
As per Idman.biz, although Azerbaijan started the competition in the UEFA Nations League in league D, then they moved to the expanded League C and will fight here for the third time in a row. In the previous competitions, the Azerbaijani team could neither win the group nor take the last place: twice they weres 2nd in group, and once they was satisfied with the 3rd place.
By the way, this time, the group runners-up will also get a chance to move up a league. While group winners in League C are certain to advance directly to League B, group runners-up will compete for promotion/relegation in a playoff against the third-placed teams in their group in League B.
Also in League C, the two lowest-performing teams from group bottoms will be directly relegated to League D, while the two best-performing teams from group bottoms will compete with the group runners-up of League D for promotion/relegation.
EC finalist England's relegation to League B for the first time
If we look at the composition of the leagues, Israel, Serbia and Scotland, who are in League A for the first time, will also compete for the prize, which weighs 7.5 kg and is 71 cm tall.
England, the finalist of the last two European championships, was relegated to League B for the first time. Along with the British, Georgia, Greece and Kazakhstan will also debut in the second league. Let's also emphasize that Sweden, one of our rivals, as well as Latvia, will compete in League C for the first time.
2024/25 UEFA Nations League will be partly linked to the European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Thus, while the twelve group winners in the qualifying stage will qualify for the World Cup directly, the group runners-up and the four group winners with the best results from the remaining teams in the Nations League will play in the playoffs.
Poland should be grateful to the Nations League
It is noteworthy that Poland is the only team that has qualified for prestigious tournaments twice thanks to the UEFA Nations League. The Poles were able to get to WC 2022 and EC 2024 in this way.
Apart from them, Hungary, Slovakia, North Macedonia and Scotland have qualified for WC 2020, Portugal and Wales for WC 2022, Georgia and Ukraine for WC 2024 through the UEFA Nations League.
Donnarumma is the leader
As for individual indicators, the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma played more games in the UEFA Nations League - 20. Frankie de Jong from the Netherlands has 19 matches.
If we look at the list of the most accurate players, Belgian Reomelu Lukaku scored 10 goals in League A, Norwegian Erling Haaland scored 12 goals in League B, Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic, Kosovar Vedat Muriki and Luxembourgian Danel Sinani scored 6 goals each, and Latvian Janis Ikaunieks scored 7 goals in League D.
Mahir, Ramil and Richard
In the Azerbaijan national team, Mahir Emreli, Ramil Sheydayev and Richard Almeida each stood out twice in the UEFA Nations League. Ramil can stand out by increasing his goal score in the games against Sweden and Slovakia.
Rasim Movsumzada
Idman.biz
