UEFA Women's Nations League: Keys Dates & Format Explained | OneFootball

The UEFA Women's Nations League kicks off this week with some blockbuster matches set to take place.

The competition returns for its second season, comprising the senior women's national teams from footballing association UEFA. The Women's Nations League offers nations a highly competitive qualification pathway to major tournaments while also boosting interest and investment in the women's game.

Here is everything that you need to know about the tournament before it heads underway this week.

How Does the Women's Nations League Work?

The UEFA Women's Nations League is comprised of a league stage, where teams are broken into three separate leagues based on their UEFA national team coefficient ranking. The league stage comprises of League A, League B and League C.

Both League A and League B are comprised of 16 teams, with League C comprising 19. Each league contains four groups of four teams, with an additional group of three in League C.

The league stage mimics a regular group stage competition, taking place over six matchdays with each team set to play against each other both home and away. This year, the league stage will take place between February and June ahead of the finals later in the year.

At the end of matchday six, teams will solidify their spot in the league stage in order to finalise which nations will play in the Nations League Finals, as well as who will be competition for a relegation or promotion spot.

Which Teams Can Play in the Nations League Finals?

The four group winners in League A can compete in the Nations League Finals.

The finals will be played in a single-leg knockout format, with two semi-finals, a third place match, and a final to take place between the four remaining teams.

In Olympic years, the tournament is used to determine the qualifying nations for the Olympic tournament. The Nations League was also used to determine which countries would achieve qualification to this summer's Women's European Championships in Switzerland.

The 2025 edition of the Women's Nations League will determine the leagues for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying competition.

How Does Promotion and Relegation Work?

Teams across all three leagues are eligible for relegation and promotion.

The four lowest-performing teams in Leagues A and B will be relegated at the end of the league stage, while the winners of Leagues B and C will earn promotion. The lowest-ranked third place League B team will also face relegation due to the composition of League C.

Alongside the Nations League Finals, playoff matches will be staged amongst the remaining teams in order to decide which teams will be promoted, relegated or remain in their respective leagues.

Women's Nations League Key Dates & Schedule

The league stages for the 2025 Women's Nations League are set to take place between now and June. The finals as well as the promotion/relegation matches will take place later on in the year.