The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A is the top division of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. League A will begin with the league phase in September 2024, and will culminate with the Nations League Finals in June 2025 to determine the champions of the competition.
For the first time, a quarter-final round will be contested in League A by the group winners and runners-up, with the winners advancing to the Nations League Finals.
League A consists of the 16 top-ranked UEFA members in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League access list, split into four groups of four. Each team will play six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in September, October and November 2024.[1]
On 25 January 2023, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a modified format for the Nations League after the league phase, with the following changes being implemented in League A:[2][3]
A new quarter-final round to be played in March 2025 was introduced, thus creating continuity between the league phase ending in November 2024 and the Nations League Finals in June 2025.
The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the quarter-finals, unlike previous editions where only the group winners advanced to the finals.
The four third-placed teams of League A will face the four runners-up of League B in the relegation play-offs, which were also introduced starting this season.
The last-placed teams of each group will continue to be relegated directly to League B, while the third-placed teams will compete against the runners-up of League B to determine their permanence in the League A for the next season or their relegation to the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League B. The relegation play-offs will be played home-and-away over two legs in March 2025, with the League A third-placed teams hosting the second leg.
The quarter-finals will also be played home and away over two legs. In each tie, group winners will face a runner-up from a different group, with the group winner hosting the second leg. The four quarter-final winners will advance to the Finals.
The Nations League Finals retain its previous format, which is played in a knockout format in June 2025, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off, and final. The semi-final pairings will be determined using an open draw. The host country will be selected by the UEFA Executive Committee, preferably hosted by one of the participating teams, with the winners of the final crowned as the champions of the UEFA Nations League.
In all two-legged ties, the team that scores more goals on aggregate is the winner. If the aggregate score is level, extra time is played without the away goals rule. If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner.[4]
Bosnia and Herzegovina returned to League A, after a one-season absence, by securing first place in their 2022–23 League B group with a 1–0 victory over Montenegro on 23 September 2022.[6][7]Israel, Scotland and Serbia reached the top flight of the UEFA Nations League for the first time, all three following similar paths, starting in League C in the inaugural edition and spending two seasons in League B before their promotion to League A.[8][9]
In the 2024–25 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2022–23 Nations League overall ranking, considering promotion and relegation between the leagues and the results of the 2023 UEFA Nations League Finals.[10] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed on 2 December 2023,[11] and were based on the access list ranking.[4]
The draw for the league phase took place at the Maison de la MutualitéinParis, France, on 8 February 2024, 18:00 CET.[12][13] Each group contained one team from each pot.
The host of the Nations League Finals will preferably be selected from the four qualified teams. The semi-finals pairings will be determined by means of an open draw. For scheduling purposes, the host team will be allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team.
Following the league phase, the 16 League A teams will be ordered 1st to 16th in an interim overall ranking for the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[4]
The teams finishing first in the groups will be ranked 1st to 4th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing second in the groups will be ranked 5th to 8th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing third in the groups will be ranked 9th to 12th according to the results of the league phase.
The teams finishing fourth in the groups will be ranked 13th to 16th according to the results of the league phase.
First match(es) will be played: 5 September 2024. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: Ranking criteria
A final overall ranking will also be compiled, though this is only used to rank teams within their new leagues for the following edition of the competition.[4]
