There’s a new competition for national teams. The autumn of this year will see the premiere of the UEFA Nations League, which is to be contested every two years. The groups for the tournament, in which all 55 UEFA member associations take part, were drawn in Lausanne on Wednesday and Bayern’s European internationals have been handed the following fixtures:
Germany (Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Jérôme Boateng, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle, Sebastian Rudy, Sandro Wagner) are in Group A1 (see below) where they’ll meet France (Corentin Tolisso, Kingsley Coman) and the Netherlands.
Poland (Robert Lewandowski) were placed in Group A3 alongside Portugal and Italy.
The opponents for Spain (Javi Martínez, Thiago, Juan Bernat) in Group A4 are England and Croatia.
Austria (David Alaba) were drawn in Group B3 where they’ll come up against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland.
How will the UEFA Nations League work?
The 55 competing teams have been divided into four leagues according to the UEFA coefficient rankings: the top 12 in League A, 13 to 24 in League B, 25 to 39 in League C and 40 to 55 in League D. Every league is then split into four groups.
Between September and November 2018, every team will play a home and away game against the other sides in their group. The first matches will take place between 6 and 8 September.
The group winners from leagues B to D will be promoted to the next league, while the bottom-placed teams in leagues A to C will be relegated. The group winners in League A will play in the finals (two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final) in June 2019 to determine the first winner of the UEFA Nations League.
In addition, each league will be given a qualification place for EURO 2020, so there are four spots up for grabs in total. Play-offs will take place in each league (two semi-finals and a final) in March 2020 between the four highest-ranked teams who haven’t already qualified for the EURO finals.
The draw in full:
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | Belgium | Portugal | Spain |
| France | Switzerland | Italy | England |
| Netherlands | Iceland | Poland | Croatia |
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slovakia | Russia | Austria | Wales |
| Ukraine | Sweden | Bosnia-Herzegovina | Ireland |
| Czech Republic | Turkey | Northern Ireland | Denmark |
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | Hungary | Slovenia | Romania |
| Albania | Greece | Norway | Serbia |
| Israel | Finland | Bulgaria | Montenegro |
| Estonia | Cyprus | Lithuania |
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Belarus | Azerbaijan | Macedonia |
| Latvia | Luxembourg | Faroe Islands | Armenia |
| Kazakhstan | Moldovia | Malta | Liechtenstein |
| Andorra | San Marino | Kosovo | Gibraltar |