| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | League phase: 6 September – 20 November 2018 Nations League Finals: 5–9 June 2019 |
| Teams | 12 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Portugal (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Netherlands |
| Third place |  England |
| Fourth place |  Switzerland |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 28 |
| Goals scored | 81 (2.89 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,143,530 (40,840 per match) |
| Top scorer | Haris Seferovic(5 goals) |
2020–21 → | |
The2018–19 UEFA Nations League A was the top division of the2018–19 edition of theUEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the internationalfootball competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations ofUEFA.[1] League A culminated with theNations League Finals in June 2019, which crownedPortugal as the inaugural champions of the UEFA Nations League.
League A consisted of the top 12 ranked UEFA members, split into four groups of three. The winners of each group advanced to the UEFA Nations League Finals. The third-placed team of each group was initially to be relegated to the2020–21 UEFA Nations League B,[2] but remained in League A following UEFA's reformatting of the next edition's groups.[3]
The Nations League Finals took place in June 2019 and was played in a knockout format, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off, and final. The semi-final pairings, along with the administrative home teams for the third place play-off and final, were determined by means of an open draw on 3 December 2018.[4] Host country Portugal was selected among the four qualified teams on 3 December 2018 by the UEFA Executive Committee,[5] with the winners of the final crowned as the inaugural champions of the UEFA Nations League.
The four group winners were drawn into groups of five teams for theUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying competition (in order to accommodate for the Nations League Finals). In addition, League A was allocated one of the four remainingUEFA Euro 2020 places. Four teams from League A which had not already qualified for the European Championship finals competed in the play-offs, which were played in October and November 2020. The play-off berths were first allocated to the group winners, and if any of the group winners had already qualified for the European Championship finals, then to the next best ranked team of the league, etc. If there were fewer than four teams in League A which had not already qualified for the European Championship finals, the play-off berths would be allocated to the next best ranked team of the following league, etc. The play-offs consisted of two "one-off" semi-finals (best-ranked team vs. fourth best-ranked team and second best-ranked team vs. third best-ranked team, played at home of higher-ranked teams) and one "one-off" final between the two semi-final winners (venue drawn in advance between semi-final 1 and 2).[6][7]
Teams were allocated to League A according to theirUEFA national team coefficients after the conclusion of the2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group stage on 11 October 2017. Teams were split into three pots of four teams, ordered based on their UEFA national team coefficient.[8][9] The seeding pots for the draw were announced on 7 December 2017.[10]
|
|
|
The group draw took place at theSwissTech Convention Center inLausanne, Switzerland on 24 January 2018, 12:00CET.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 24 January 2018 following the draw.[17][18]
Times areCET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification[a] | |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 7[b] | Qualification forNations League Finals | — | 2–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | France | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7[b] | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 3 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | — |
| France | 2–1 | Netherlands |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification[a] | |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 9[b] | Qualification forNations League Finals | — | 5–2 | 6–0 | |
| 2 | Belgium | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 9[b] | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Iceland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 13 | −12 | 0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | — |
| Belgium | 2–1 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Iceland | 1–2 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Switzerland | 5–2 | Belgium |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification[a] | |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 8 | Qualification forNations League Finals | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | |
| 2 | Italy | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — |
| Poland | 2–3 | Portugal |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification[a] | |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 | Qualification forNations League Finals | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | Spain | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 6 | 2–3 | — | 6–0 | ||
| 3 | Croatia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 | 0–0 | 3–2 | — |
The host of the Nations League Finals, Portugal, was selected from the four qualified teams. The semi-finals pairings were determined by means of an open draw, along with the administrative home teams for the third place play-off and final. The draw took place on 3 December 2018, 14:30CET (13:30local time), at theShelbourne Hotel inDublin, Republic of Ireland.[4][24] For scheduling purposes, the semi-final pairing involving the host team was considered to be semi-final 1.
Times areCEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 5 June 2019 –Porto | ||||||
| Portugal | 3 | |||||
| 9 June 2019 –Porto | ||||||
| Switzerland | 1 | |||||
| Portugal | 1 | |||||
| 6 June 2019 –Guimarães | ||||||
| Netherlands | 0 | |||||
| Netherlands(a.e.t.) | 3 | |||||
| England | 1 | |||||
| Third place play-off | ||||||
| 9 June 2019 –Guimarães | ||||||
| Switzerland | 0 (5) | |||||
| England(p) | 0 (6) | |||||
| Portugal | 3–1 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
There were 81 goals scored in 28 matches, for an average of 2.89 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Eden HazardHarry KaneJesse LingardOlivier GiroudKylian MbappéToni KroosLeroy SanéTimo WernerAlfreð FinnbogasonCristiano BiraghiJorginhoRyan BabelMatthijs de LigtJakub BłaszczykowskiArkadiusz MilikKrzysztof PiątekPiotr ZielińskiGonçalo GuedesBernardo SilvaPaco AlcácerMarco AsensioDani CeballosIscoAlbian AjetiNico ElvediMario GavranovićMichael LangAdmir MehmediXherdan ShaqiriDenis ZakariaSteven Zuber1 own goal
Lovre Kalinić (against Spain)Kyle Walker (against Netherlands)Kamil Glik (against Portugal)The 12 League A teams were ranked 1st to 12th overall in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[2][29]
| Rnk | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A3 | Portugal | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 8 |
| 2 | A1 | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 7 |
| 3 | A4 | England | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 |
| 4 | A2 | Switzerland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 9 |
| 5 | A2 | Belgium | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 9 |
| 6 | A1 | France | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 7 | A4 | Spain | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 6 |
| 8 | A3 | Italy | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 | A4 | Croatia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 |
| 10 | A3 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 2 |
| 11 | A1 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 |
| 12 | A2 | Iceland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 13 | −12 | 0 |
The prize money to be distributed was announced in March 2018.[30] Each team in League A received a solidarity fee of €1.5 million. In addition, the four group winners received double this amount via a €1.5M bonus fee.
The four group winners of League A, which participated in the Nations League Finals, also received the following fees based on performance:
This meant that the maximum amount of solidarity and bonus fees for a team from League A was €7.5M.
The four best teams in League A according to the overall ranking that did not qualify forUEFA Euro 2020 through thequalifying group stage were set to compete in the play-offs, with the winners qualifying for the final tournament. AsIceland were the only team in League A that did not qualify, the remaining three slots were allocated to teams identified according to the path formation rules to be thethree best-ranked un-qualified non-group winners from League C not drawn to Path C.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 GW | Portugal |
| 2 GW | Netherlands[H] |
| 3 GW | England[H] |
| 4 GW | Switzerland |
| 5 | Belgium |
| 6 | France |
| 7 | Spain[H] |
| 8 | Italy[H] |
| 9 | Croatia |
| 10 | Poland |
| 11 | Germany[H] |
| 12 | Iceland |
Key
