The 2026/27 UEFA Nations League starts on 24 September 2026 and its league phase closes on 17 November. Fifty-four nations, four leagues, six matchdays — and a promotion and relegation system that UEFA adjusted little more than a week before the first ball was kicked, to bridge the competition's move to a three-league format from 2028/29.

Below is the full published fixture list, league by league and matchday by matchday, with every kick-off time in European time and a conversion table for the UK, Ireland and North America.

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The 2026/27 Nations League in brief

How the competition is shaped

All 54 entrants are placed into four leagues. Leagues A, B and C each hold 16 teams in four groups of four; League D holds six teams in two groups of three. In the three larger leagues every nation plays six matches, home and away against the other three sides in its group. In League D each side plays four, home and away against the other two.

League A carries the silverware. Its four group winners and four runners-up go into home-and-away quarter-finals in March 2027, and the four winners of those ties reach the Finals in June 2027. Leagues B, C and D are about position: where a nation finishes in November decides which league it plays in when the competition is restructured.

The groups were drawn in Brussels on 12 February 2026 — the same day UEFA confirmed that holders Portugal would meet Denmark, Norway and Wales in A4, that Spain, Croatia and England would share A3, and that France, Italy and Belgium would be reunited in A1 for the second edition running.

Reading the kick-off times: Nations League European time

UEFA publishes the fixture list in Central European Time, and two slots dominate it: 20:45 CET, the default, and 18:00 CET. A handful of matches sit earlier still — 15:00 and 16:00 — usually in the east or the far west of the continent, where travel makes a late finish impractical.

One detail is worth knowing before you plan an evening. “CET” in UEFA's list means local Central European time, and Europe moves its clocks back on 25 October 2026. The September and October matchdays are therefore played on summer time (CEST, UTC+2) and the November matchdays on winter time (CET, UTC+1).

Because the UK, Ireland, Portugal and the east coast of North America shift their clocks in the same direction, the times those audiences care about hold steady across the whole league phase. A 20:45 kick-off is 19:45 in London and Dublin, 19:45 in Lisbon, 21:45 in Athens and Helsinki, and 14:45 in New York — whether it is played in September or November.

League A fixtures

The headline division: France, Italy, Belgium and Türkiye in A1; Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia and Greece in A2; Spain, Croatia, England and Czechia in A3; holders Portugal with Denmark, Norway and Wales in A4. The opening night alone brings Netherlands vs Germany and Portugal vs Wales.

League B fixtures

Sixteen nations with a route back into the top division, and a play-off trapdoor underneath. Scotland, Switzerland, Slovenia and North Macedonia make up B1; Hungary, Ukraine, Georgia and Northern Ireland are in B2; Israel, Austria, the Republic of Ireland and Kosovo in B3; Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden in B4.

League C fixtures

Albania, Finland, Belarus and San Marino in C1; Montenegro, Armenia, Cyprus and Latvia in C2; Kazakhstan, Slovakia, the Faroe Islands and Moldova in C3; Iceland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Luxembourg in C4. Group winners go up to League B; nobody goes down.

League D fixtures

Six teams, two groups of three, four matches each. Gibraltar, Malta and Andorra in D1; Lithuania, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein in D2. League D disappears at the end of this cycle, and all six sides move up into League C.

March 2027: the quarter-finals and the play-offs

The league phase settles everything except the trophy. Between 25 and 30 March 2027 League A's four group winners and four runners-up play home-and-away quarter-finals, while the A/B and B/C promotion and relegation play-offs are decided in the same window. The four quarter-final winners go to the Finals, held from 9 to 13 June 2027.

What changed on 15 September 2026

UEFA's Executive Committee, meeting in Thessaloniki, adjusted promotion and relegation for this edition to smooth the transition to a three-league competition from 2028/29. The practical effect is that November matters differently than it used to.

• Automatic promotion: the four group winners in League B go up to League A; the four group winners in League C go up to League B.
• Automatic relegation from League A is now partial: only the two lowest-ranked of the four fourth-placed teams drop to League B directly — not all four group bottoms, as before.
• Third place in League A is no longer a guaranteed play-off: the two best third-placed teams stay up without playing another match.
• The A/B play-off: the two lowest-ranked third-placed teams and the two highest-ranked fourth-placed teams from League A meet the four second-placed teams from League B. Winners go into League A, losers into League B.
• The B/C play-off: the four fourth-placed teams in League B meet the four second-placed teams in League C. Winners go into League B, losers into League C.
• No relegation from League C. League D is abolished from 2028/29 and its six teams move into League C, so finishing bottom of a League C group costs nothing but pride in this cycle.

Common questions

When does the 2026/27 Nations League start and finish?

Matchday 1 begins on 24 September 2026. The league phase ends on 17 November 2026, with the quarter-finals and play-offs on 25–30 March 2027 and the Finals on 9–13 June 2027.

What time do Nations League matches kick off?

20:45 Central European Time is the standard slot, and 18:00 is the second most common. Early windows at 15:00 and 16:00 are used for a small number of fixtures. From the UK and Ireland that means 19:45 or 17:00; from the east coast of the United States, 14:45 or 12:00.

Who reaches the Nations League Finals?

The four winners of the March 2027 quarter-finals. Places in those quarter-finals go to the four group winners and four runners-up in League A.

Can a League C team be relegated in 2026/27?

No. League D is being retired, so League C becomes the competition's bottom division and no side drops out of it at the end of this edition.