LEAGUE PHASE DRAW PRESS KIT Beurs van Berlage Conference Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands 3 March 2020 | 18:00 CET UEFA Nations League | Press Kit #NationsLeague 1 CONTENTS HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK .............................................................. 3 HOW TO FOLLOW THE DRAW ............................................................. 7 CALENDAR ................................................................................................ 8 H2H RECORDS .......................................................................................... 9–67 LEAGUE A .......................................................................................... 9–25 LEAGUE B ........................................................................................... 26–42 LEAGUE C .......................................................................................... 43–59 LEAGUE D .......................................................................................... 60–67 2018/19 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE ......................................................... 68–84 2018/19 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE STATS & FACTS ............................ 85–86 FAQ ............................................................................................................. 87–90 2 UEFA Nations League | Press Kit HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK When does it start? The draw takes place on Tuesday 3 March 2020, with the ceremony getting under way at 18:00 CET in Amsterdam. The League Phase is played out in September, October and November 2020, with the finals in 2021 and relegation play-offs in March 2022 (more on those below). Who can teams face? The 55 associations have been split into four Leagues according to their position in the UEFA National Team Coefficient Rankings (1–16 in League A, 17–32 in League B, 33–48 in League C, 49–55 in League D). Within each League, teams have been subdivided into two pots (League D) or four (for Leagues A, B and C), again according to the rankings. League A Pot 1: Portugal, Netherlands, England, Switzerland Pot 2: Belgium, France, Spain, Italy Pot 3: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden Pot 4: Croatia, Poland, Germany, Iceland Teams will be split into four groups of four, with the group winners then contesting the UEFA Nations League Finals (semi-finals, match for third place and final) in June 2021 to become the second UEFA Nations League winners. One host country will be appointed from among the finalist teams. Teams who finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League B. League B Pot 1: Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic Pot 2: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland Pot 3: Slovakia, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland Pot 4: Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Romania Teams will be split into four groups of four. The group winners will gain promotion. Teams who finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League C. UEFA Nations League | Press Kit 3 HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK League C Pot 1: Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia Pot 2: North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Cyprus Pot 3: Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg Pot 4: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova Teams will be split into four groups of four. The group winners will gain promotion. Two League C teams will be relegated to League D for the third edition of the competition in 2022/23. Those two teams are determined by play-offs (home and away), to be played between the four fourth- ranked teams from each League C group. League D Pot 1: Gibraltar, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Liechtenstein Pot 2: Andorra, Malta, San Marino Teams will be split into one group of four and one group of three. The draw starts with League D and Pot 2, which contains three balls, with teams assigned to groups in ascending order from D1 to D2. The draw continues with Pot 1. The draws for the other Leagues follow a similar procedure, though with four pots. Draw conditions Draw conditions may apply for “prohibited team clashes”, “winter venue restrictions” and “excessive travel restrictions”. When such a situation occurs or is anticipated to occur, the computer used to assist with the draw will indicate the next available group for the drawn team. It must be noted that the number of options available to a team depends not only on the team’s own attributes (for example, “winter venue”) and those of the teams already drawn, but also on the attributes of the other teams still to be drawn. This is due to the computer calculations needed to anticipate all possible scenarios and to prevent any deadlock situation. 4 UEFA Nations League | Press Kit HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK 1. Prohibited team clashes None of the currently known prohibited team clashes (as decided by the UEFA Executive Committees) can occur. a. the teams in question will play in different leagues: • Spain (League A) / Gibraltar (League D) • Ukraine (League A) / Russia (League B) • Serbia (League B) / Kosovo (League C) • Russia (League B) / Kosovo (League C) • Bosnia and Herzegovina (League A) / Kosovo (League C) b. the teams have been allocated to the same draw pot, and thus cannot be drawn into the same group: • Armenia (League C, pot 4) / Azerbaijan (League C, pot 4). The UEFA Executive Committee may decide on further prohibited pairs closer to the draw. 2. Winter venue restrictions The following countries are taken into consideration as venues with high or medium risk of severe winter conditions. • Belarus (League C, medium risk) • Estonia (League C, medium risk) • Faroe Islands (League D, high risk) • Finland (League B, high risk) • Iceland (League A, high risk) • Latvia (League D, medium risk) • Lithuania (League C, medium risk) • Norway (League B, medium risk) • Russia (League B, medium risk) • Ukraine (League A, medium risk) Note that the difference between high or medium risk is not relevant for the draw itself, but is taken into consideration for the elaboration of the fixture list. UEFA Nations League | Press Kit 5 HOW THE DRAW WILL WORK A group may include a maximum of two winter venues. Given the allocation of these teams to the leagues and draw pots, this restriction will not apply: Nations League A Ukraine and Iceland are the only two teams with winter venue restrictions in League A. Nations League B The following pairings are possible: • Russia / Norway • Russia / Finland The pair Norway / Finland cannot be drawn into the same group, as both teams have been allocated to Pot 2. Nations League C The following pairings are possible: • Belarus / Estonia • Belarus / Lithuania The pair Estonia / Lithuania cannot be drawn into the same group, as both teams have been allocated to Pot 3. Nations League D Faroe Islands and Latvia are the only two teams with winter venue restrictions in League D. 3. Excessive travel restrictions None of the 20 pairs of excessive travel distances identified (applicable both ways, 8 hours or above, based on direct flight times plus 90 minutes’ ground operations) apply for the 2020/21 UNL, as the teams in question happen to play in different leagues. 6 UEFA Nations League | Press Kit HOW TO FOLLOW THE DRAW On UEFA.com and official social media channels. UEFA.com is the official website of the UEFA Nations League. The fully-responsive UEFA Nations League section – available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish – will provide in-depth coverage of the competition, including detailed editorial coverage of the draw. With over 160 million visitors per year, the website has extensive reach, both for UEFA and its member associations, as do the official social media channels. The UEFA Nations League will be covered via the established and popular UEFA EURO accounts: Facebook: EURO2020 Instagram: EURO2020 Twitter: @UEFAEURO YouTube: UEFA Handout photos are available for media use and the following link will be populated on the day: https://library.uefa.com/Go/pceNMi7M. UEFA Nations League | Press Kit 7 CALENDAR UEFA will confirm the 162 League Phase fixtures, with dates and kick-off times, as soon as possible after the draw. Kick-off times are 15:00 CET (Saturdays and Sundays only, optional), 18:00 CET and 20:45 CET. Matchweeks are below. Matchday 1: 3–5 September 2020 Matchday 2: 6–8 September 2020 Matchday 3: 8–10 October 2020 Matchday 4: 11–13 October 2020 Matchday 5: 12–14 November 2020 Matchday 6: 15–17 November 2020 Finals: 2, 3, 6 June 2021 Relegation play-offs: 24, 25, 28, 29 March 2022 8 UEFA Nations League | Press Kit H2H RECORDS League A Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Portugal Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Netherlands France Ukraine Poland England Spain Denmark Germany Switzerland Italy Sweden Iceland Teams will be split into four groups of four, with the group winners then contesting the UEFA Nations League Finals (semi-finals, match for third place and final) in June 2021 to become the second UEFA Nations League winners. One host country will be appointed from among the finalist teams. Teams who finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League B. UEFA Nations League | Press Kit 9 POT 1: PORTUGAL HEAD TO HEADS v Belgium v France Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA 18 6 7 5 21 22 25 6 1 18 29 49 Last Meeting Belgium 0-0 Portugal Last Meeting Portugal 1-0 France 02/06/2018 Friendly 10/07/2016 EURO 2016 v Spain v Italy Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA 36 6 14 16 44 75 27 6 3 18 23 51 Last Meeting Portugal 3-3 Spain Last Meeting Italy 0-0 Portugal 15/06/2018 2018 World Cup 17/11/2018 UEFA Nations League v Bosnia and Herzegovina v Ukraine Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA 4 3 1 0 8 2 4 1 1 2 3 4 Last Meeting Portugal 6-2 Bosnia and Herzegovina