 | |
| Organiser(s) | UEFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2 November 2022; 3 years ago (2022-11-02) |
| Region | Europe |
| Teams | Maximum of 55 |
| Related competitions | UEFA Nations League |
| Current champions |  Spain (1st title) |
| Most championships | Spain (1 title) |
| Website | uefa.com/womensnationsleague |
 2025 UEFA Women's Nations League | |
TheUEFA Women's Nations League is a biennial internationalwomen's football competition contested by the seniorwomen's national teams of the member associations ofUEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The competition feature three leagues, withpromotion and relegation between them in addition to a final tournament to determine the champions. It also acts as part of the qualifying process for theUEFA Women's Championship,FIFA Women's World Cup andWomen's Olympic Football Tournament, depending on the season.
On 2 November 2022, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a new women's national team competition system, which was publicly announced the following day. This included the announcement of a women's Nations League competition beginning in 2023. The new system came as part of the UEFA women's football strategy for 2019 to 2024 and was approved after discussions between representatives of national associations and the recommendation of the UEFA Women's Football Committee. The Women's Nations League acts as the first phase of a two-part women's national team competition cycle, with the other phase being the European qualifiers for theUEFA Women's Championship orFIFA Women's World Cup.[1]
The new system is designed to create more competitive matches, with teams facing others of similar strength, while generating a greater sporting and commercial interest in women's national team football. However, the system still gives all national teams a chance of qualifying for major international tournaments. The interconnected competition cycles are intended to encourage the long-term development of women's national teams.[2] Before the changes, European qualifiers often had mismatched ties.[3][4]
The competition begins with the league stage, featuring the national teams split into three leagues (A, B, and C). Leagues A and B both consist of 16 teams in 4 groups of 4, while League C consists of the remaining competition entrants split into groups of three or four. The teams in each group play against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The four group winners of League A advance to the Nations League Finals, organized by the participating teams, which feature two-legged semi-finals (single-leg for first edition), a third-place play-off, and a final. InSummer Olympic years, the Nations League Finals determine the teams that will qualify for theWomen's Olympic Football Tournament.
In addition, the competition featurespromotion and relegation, which takes effect in the next edition of qualification for theUEFA Women's Championship orFIFA Women's World Cup (both of which have an identical league structure). The group winners of Leagues B and C are automatically promoted, while the fourth-placed teams in Leagues A and B, as well as the two lowest-ranked third-placed team in League B (conditional upon the number of entrants), are automatically relegated. Promotion/relegation matches are also held on a home-and-away basis, taking place in parallel with the Nations League Finals, with the winners going into the higher league and the losers going into the lower league. The third-placed teams of League A will play the runners-up of League B, while the two best-ranked third-placed teams in League B will play the two best-ranked League C runners-up (conditional upon the number of entrants), with the team from the higher league hosting the second leg.[2]
The Women's Nations League is linked with qualification for theUEFA Women's Championship andFIFA Women's World Cup. The qualifiers for both competitions use the same league stage system as the Women's Nations League, with teams split into Leagues A, B, and C. Teams in qualification are split into leagues based on the results of the prior edition of the Women's Nations League. The results of the qualification league stage determine which teams qualify automatically for the Women's Euro or World Cup, and which teams enter the play-offs. In addition, teams are automatically promoted and relegated using the same format as in the Women's Nations League, though no promotion/relegation matches take place. This determines the league composition for the next edition of the Women's Nations League.[2]
| Season | Hosts | Final | Third-place play-off | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | Score | Runners-up | Third | Score | Fourth | ||
| 2023–24 Finals |  France Netherlands Spain | Spain | 2–0 | France |  Germany | 2–0 | Netherlands |
| 2025 Finals | France Germany Spain Sweden | Germany or Spain | – | Spain or Germany | France or Sweden | – | Sweden or France |
| Team | Winners | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | TBD | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 1 (2024) | 1 (2025) | 2 | |||
| France | 1 (2024) | 1 (2025) | 2 | |||
| Germany | 1 (2024) | 1 (2025) | 2 | |||
| Netherlands | 1 (2024) | 1 | ||||
| Sweden | 1 (2025) | 1 |
| Season | League A | League B | League C | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player |  | Player | | Player | | |
| 2023–24 | Lineth Beerensteyn | 6 |  Ewa Pajor Kyra CarusaKatie McCabe | 5 |  Sharon Beck | 9 |
| 2025 |  Tessa WullaertSandy BaltimoreLea Schüller | 5 |  Fortesa Berisha Kateřina Svitková Zara Kramžar | 5 |  Amy Thompson Tamara Morávková | 6 |
This table shows the overall performance of each team per Nations League season, including the interveningUEFA Women's Championship orFIFA Women's World Cup qualifying competitions which use an identical league structure, and teams' promotion/relegation between the leagues.
Key:
– Promoted
– No movement
– RelegatedInternationalwomen's association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| Worldwide |  | |
| Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| North America, Central America and the Caribbean | ||
| South America | ||
| Oceania | ||
| Europe | ||
| Non-FIFA | ||
| Games | ||
| Invitationals |
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