The2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League was the inaugural season of theUEFA Women's Nations League, an internationalwomen's football competition contested by the seniorwomen's national teams of the member associations ofUEFA.[1] The league phase of the competition was played between September and December 2023, with the finals tournament taking place in February 2024. The results also determined the leagues for theUEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying competition, and which two teams (in addition to hosts France) qualified for the2024 Summer Olympics inParis.
The competition began with the league stage, featuring the national teams split into three leagues (A, B, and C) based on theirUEFA Women's national team coefficient.[2] Leagues A and B featured 16 teams in four groups of four teams, while League C consisted of the remaining competition entrants split into groups of three or four teams.
The teams in each group played against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The four group winners of League A advanced to the Nations League Finals, which featured single-leg semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and final. An open draw determined the pairings and home teams for the semi-final matches, as well as which semi-final will have its teams host the third-place play-off and final. The two best-ranked teams in the Nations League Finals (excludingFrance) qualified for the2024 Summer Olympics.[3]
In addition, the competition featuredpromotion and relegation, taking effect inUEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying (which uses an identical league structure). The group winners of Leagues B and C were automatically promoted, while the fourth-placed teams in Leagues A and B, as well as the lowest-ranked third-placed team in League B, were automatically relegated.Promotion/relegation matches were also held on a home-and-away basis, taking place in parallel with the Nations League Finals, to determine which teams would be promoted, relegated or remain in their respective leagues. The third-placed teams of League A played the runners-up of League B, while the three best-ranked third-placed teams in League B played the three best-ranked League C runners-up.[4] The teams from the higher leagues were seeded, and played the second leg at home. In the two-legged ties, the team that scored more goals on aggregate was the winner. If the aggregate score was level,extra time was played (theaway goals rule was not applied). If the score remained level after extra time, apenalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner.[3]
If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:[3]
Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[a] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 11 apply;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of wins in all group matches;
Higher number of away wins in all group matches;
Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
^When there are two or more teams tied in points, criteria 1 to 3 are applied. After these criteria are applied, they may define the position of some of the teams involved, but not all of them. For example, if there is a three-way tie on points, the application of the first three criteria may only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure is resumed, from the beginning, for those teams that are still tied.
Individual league rankings are established according to the following criteria:[3]
Position in the group;
Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
Higher number of goals scored away from home;
Higher number of wins;
Higher number of wins away from home;
Lower disciplinary points total (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
To rank teams in League C, which may be composed of different-sized groups, the results against the fourth-placed teams in these leagues are not taken into account to compare teams placed first, second, and third in their respective groups.[3]
The ranking of the top four teams in League A is determined by their finish in the Nations League Finals.[3]
The competition was played from September 2023 to February 2024.[5] It began with the league phase and ended with the Nations League Finals and promotion/relegation matches played in parallel.[4] Below is the schedule of the 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League.[6]
All 55 UEFA national teams were able to submit an entry for the competition by 23 March 2023 at the latest,[7] which also acted as entry forUEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying.[4] In total, 51 teams entered the competition.Russia were not permitted to enter the competition, as Russian teams were suspended indefinitely from UEFA and FIFA competitions since 28 February 2022 due totheir country's invasion of Ukraine.[8]
The draw for the league phase took place on 2 May 2023, 13:00CEST, at the House of European Football inNyon, Switzerland.[7][9] Teams were split into leagues based on theirUEFA Women's national team coefficient ranking.[2] Teams were divided into four pots of four in Leagues A and B, and three pots of five and one pot of 4 in League C.[10] For political reasons, Armenia and Azerbaijan (due to theNagorno-Karabakh conflict), as well as Belarus and Ukraine (due to theBelarusian involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine), could not be drawn in the same group. Due to winter venue restrictions, a group could contain a maximum of two of Sweden, Norway, and Iceland in League A, and two of Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Latvia, and Lithuania in League C. Due to excessive travel restrictions, only one of Andorra, the Faroe Islands, and Malta could be drawn with Kazakhstan.[10]
Because France, who qualified automatically as hosts of the Olympics reached the final, the third place playoff determined the second team to qualify for the Olympics alongside Spain.
Spain (1st title)
France
Germany
Netherlands
Sharon Beck
