The2020–21 UEFA Nations League C was the third division of the2020–21 edition of theUEFA Nations League, the second season of the internationalfootball competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations ofUEFA.[1]
Following a format change from the first season, League C was expanded from 15 to 16 teams.[2] The league consisted of UEFA members ranked from 33 to 48 in the2018–19 UEFA Nations League overall ranking, split into four groups of four. Each team played six matches within their group, using the home-and-awayround-robin format on double matchdays in September, October and November 2020.[3] The winners of each group were promoted to the2022–23 UEFA Nations League B, and the fourth-placed team of each group advanced to the relegation play-outs.[4]
As League C had four groups while League D had only two, the two League C teams that were to be relegated to the2022–23 UEFA Nations League D were determined by play-outs in March 2022. Based on theNations League overall ranking, the best-ranked team faced the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team faced the third-ranked team. Two ties were played overtwo legs, with the higher-ranked team hosted the second leg. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs remained in League C, while the loser was relegated to League D. If the aggregate score was level,extra time was played (theaway goals rule was not applied). If still tied after extra time, apenalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner.[4] The away goals rule was originally to be used, but was abolished by the UEFA Executive Committee on 16 December 2021.[5]
In the 2020–21 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the2018–19 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.[6][7] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed 4 December 2019,[8] and were based on the access list ranking.[4][9]
The draw for the league phase took place at theBeurs van Berlage Conference Centre inAmsterdam, Netherlands on 3 March 2020, 18:00CET.[10][11][12][13] Each group contained one team from each pot.
The original fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 3 March 2020 following the draw.[14] On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee adjusted the league phase schedule for October and November 2020 to allow for the completion of theUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs.[15][16] Following the change, a revised schedule for the October and November 2020 fixtures was released by UEFA on 26 June 2020.[17][18]
Times areCET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
The fourth-placed teams of League C participated in the relegation play-outs to determine the two teams which would be relegated. The relegation play-outs were scheduled on the same dates as the2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-offs. If at least one of the teams due to participate in the relegation play-outs had also qualified for the World Cup qualifying play-offs (none ultimately did), the relegation play-outs would have been cancelled, and the teams in League C ranked 47th and 48th in theNations League overall ranking would have been automatically relegated.[4]
The play-out ties were as follows, with the higher-ranked teams hosting the second leg:[4]
Team ranked first vs. team ranked fourth
Team ranked second vs. team ranked third
Times areCET/CEST,[note 9] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
^The Azerbaijan v Montenegro match, originally scheduled to be played atOlympic Stadium,Baku, was later moved to the neutralIvan Laljak-Ivić Stadium,Zaprešić, as UEFA announced on 20 October 2020 to temporarily suspend all UEFA matches taking place in Armenia and Azerbaijan until further notice due to theNagorno-Karabakh conflict.[30][31]
Albania
Armenia
Montenegro
Slovenia
Estonia
Moldova
