UEFA: men’s national team competitions to undergo major changes after Euro 2028

Meeting in Istanbul (TUR), the UEFA Executive Committee approved new formats (similar to UEFA club competitions) for European men’s national team competitions after Euro 2028, "following a thorough review of the current UEFA men’s national team competition formats and extensive consultation with all UEFA member associations," the European football confederation announced on 20 May 2026.

As part of the new structure, the Nations League will transition in 2028-29 from the current four leagues to three leagues of 18 teams. "Every league will be composed of three groups of six teams playing six matches against five different opponents: home or away against teams from different pots, home and away against the opponent of their same pot," UEFA said.

The European Qualifiers for Euro and World Cup will also assume a tiered structure: League 1 will include the 36 teams from Nations League Leagues A and B, while League 2 will be composed of the remaining 18 (or 19) teams. League 1 will consist of three groups of 12 teams drawn from three pots of 12 teams. Each team will play six home-or-away…