2020–21_UEFA_Nations_League_A

2020–21 UEFA Nations League A

2020–21 UEFA Nations League A

International football competition

The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A was the top division of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.[1] League A culminated with the Nations League Finals in October 2021 to determine the champions of the competition.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

Portugal were the defending champions, having won the inaugural 2019 finals. However, they failed to qualify for the 2021 finals after finishing second in their group behind France.[2] None of the teams that had qualified for the previous UEFA Nations League Finals qualified for the 2021 edition.

France won the final 2–1 against Spain for their first UEFA Nations League title.

Format

Following a format change from the first season, League A was expanded from 12 to 16 teams.[3] The league consisted of the top ranked UEFA members from 1–16 in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League overall ranking, split into four groups of four. Each team played six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in September, October and November 2020.[4] The winners of each group advanced to the 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals, and the fourth-placed team of each group was relegated to the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B.[5]

The Nations League Finals was played in a knockout format, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off, and final. The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw. Host country Italy was selected among the four qualified teams by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winners of the final crowned as the champions of the UEFA Nations League. Though originally planned for 2–6 June 2021, the Nations League Finals were moved to October 2021 following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7][8]

The four group winners were drawn into groups of five teams for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (in order to accommodate for the Nations League Finals).

Teams

Team changes

The following were the team changes of League A from the 2018–19 season:

More information Promoted from Nations League B ...

The following team changes were initially set to occur in League A, but did not after no teams were relegated due to the format change by UEFA:

More information Initially relegated to Nations League B ...

Seeding

In the 2020–21 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2018–19 Nations League overall ranking, with a slight modification: teams that were originally relegated in the previous season were ranked immediately below teams promoted prior to the format change.[9][10] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed 4 December 2019,[11] and were based on the access list ranking.[5][12]

More information Team, Rank ...

The draw for the league phase took place at the Beurs van Berlage Conference Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 3 March 2020, 18:00 CET.[13][14][15][16] Each group contained one team from each pot.

Groups

The original fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 3 March 2020 following the draw.[17] On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee adjusted the league phase schedule for October and November 2020 to allow for the completion of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs.[18][19] Following the change, a revised schedule for the October and November 2020 fixtures was released by UEFA on 26 June 2020.[20][21]

Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Group 1

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
More information Italy, 1–1 ...
Attendance: 0[22][note 2]
More information Netherlands, 1–0 ...
Attendance: 0[25][note 2]
More information Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 0[26][note 2]
More information Netherlands, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 0[27][note 2]
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
More information Bosnia and Herzegovina, 0–0 ...
Attendance: 1,600[28]
More information Poland, 0–0 ...
Attendance: 9,200[29]
More information Italy, 1–1 ...
Attendance: 623[30]
More information Poland, 3–0 ...
Attendance: 8,152[31]
More information Netherlands, 3–1 ...
Attendance: 0[32][note 3]
More information Italy, 2–0 ...
Attendance: 0[33][note 3]
More information Bosnia and Herzegovina, 0–2 ...
Attendance: 0[34][note 3]
More information Poland, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 0[35][note 3]

Group 2

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Denmark 4, England 1.
More information Iceland, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 0[36][note 2]
More information Denmark, 0–2 ...
Attendance: 0[37][note 2]
More information Belgium, 5–1 ...
Attendance: 0[38][note 2]
More information Denmark, 0–0 ...
Attendance: 0[39][note 2]
More information England, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 0[40][note 3]
More information Iceland, 0–3 ...
Attendance: 60[41]
More information England, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 0[42][note 3]
More information Iceland, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 60[43]
More information Belgium, 2–0 ...
Attendance: 0[44][note 3]
More information Denmark, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 141[45]
More information Belgium, 4–2 ...
Attendance: 0[46][note 3]
More information England, 4–0 ...
Attendance: 0[47][note 3]
Referee: Fábio Veríssimo (Portugal)

Group 3

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.
More information Portugal, 4–1 ...
Attendance: 0[48][note 2]
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
More information Sweden, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 0[49][note 2]
More information France, 4–2 ...
Attendance: 0[50][note 2]
More information Sweden, 0–2 ...
Attendance: 0[51][note 2]
More information Croatia, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 2,020[52]
More information France, 0–0 ...
Attendance: 1,000[53]
More information Croatia, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 6,266[54]
More information Portugal, 3–0 ...
Attendance: 5,000[55]
More information Portugal, 0–1 ...
Attendance: 0[56][note 3]
More information Sweden, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 0[57][note 3]
More information Croatia, 2–3 ...
Attendance: 0[58][note 3]
More information France, 4–2 ...
Attendance: 0[59][note 3]

Group 4

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head points (3). Head-to-head goal difference: Switzerland +2, Ukraine −2.
  2. The Switzerland v Ukraine match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Switzerland after being cancelled as Ukraine were placed in quarantine prior to the match due to positive SARS-CoV-2 tests in the team.
More information Germany, 1–1 ...
Attendance: 0[60][note 2]
More information Ukraine, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 0[61][note 2]
More information Spain, 4–0 ...
Attendance: 0[62][note 2]
More information Switzerland, 1–1 ...
Attendance: 0[63][note 2]
More information Spain, 1–0 ...
Attendance: 0[64][note 3]
More information Ukraine, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 17,753[65]
More information Germany, 3–3 ...
Attendance: 0[66][note 3]
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France)
More information Ukraine, 1–0 ...
Attendance: 10,495[67]
Referee: Paweł Gil (Poland)
More information Germany, 3–1 ...
Attendance: 0[68][note 3]
More information Switzerland, 1–1 ...
Attendance: 0[69][note 3]
More information Spain, 6–0 ...
Attendance: 0[70][note 3]
More information Switzerland, 3–0 Awarded ...

Nations League Finals

Main article: 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals

The host of the Nations League Finals, Italy, was selected from the four qualified teams.[74] The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 3 December 2020, 17:30 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team.[75]

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA.

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 October – Milan
 
 
 Italy1
 
10 October – Milan
 
 Spain2
 
 Spain1
 
7 October – Turin
 
 France2
 
 Belgium2
 
 
 France3
 
Third place play-off
 
 
10 October – Turin
 
 
 Italy2
 
 
 Belgium1

Semi-finals

More information Italy, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 33,524[76]
More information Belgium, 2–3 ...
Attendance: 12,409[77]

Third-place play-off

More information Italy, 2–1 ...
Attendance: 16,724[78]

Final

Main article: 2021 UEFA Nations League final
More information Spain, 1–2 ...
Attendance: 31,511[79]

Goalscorers

There were 143 goals scored in 51 matches, for an average of 2.8 goals per match.

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Overall ranking

The 16 League A teams were ranked 1st to 16th overall in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[5][80]

  • The teams finishing first in the groups were ranked 1st to 4th according to the results of the Nations League Finals.
  • The teams finishing second in the groups were ranked 5th to 8th according to the results of the league phase.
  • The teams finishing third in the groups were ranked 9th to 12th according to the results of the league phase.
  • The teams finishing fourth in the groups were ranked 13th to 16th according to the results of the league phase.
More information Rnk, Grp ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Ranking criteria

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    CEST (UTC+2) for matchdays 1–4 (September and October 2020), CET (UTC+1) for matchdays 5–6 (November 2020).
  2. [N 2]
    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, all matches scheduled for September 2020 were played behind closed doors.[23][24]
  3. [N 3]
    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.
  4. [N 4]
    The Switzerland v Ukraine match was cancelled and awarded as a 3–0 win to Switzerland after the Ukraine national team were placed in quarantine by the Department of Health of the Canton of Lucerne due to positive SARS-CoV-2 tests in the squad.[71] The Ukrainian Association of Football appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,[72] which was subsequently dismissed.[73]

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