2021 UEFA Nations League Finals

The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals will be the final tournament of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The tournament will be held in Italy from 6 to 10 October 2021,[1] and will be contested by the four group winners of Nations League A. The tournament will consist of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and final to determine the champions of the UEFA Nations League.

2021 UEFA Nations League Finals
Fase finale della UEFA Nations League 2021 (in Italian)
Tournament details
Host countryItaly
Dates6–10 October
Teams4
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
← 2019
2023 →

Portugal were the defending champions, having won the inaugural 2019 finals. However, they failed to qualify for the 2021 finals after finishing second in their group behind France.[2]

FormatEdit

The Nations League Finals will take place in October 2021 and will be contested by the four group winners of League A. The four teams will each be drawn into a five-team group (rather than a six-team group) for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification group stage, thereby leaving the October 2021 window available for the Nations League Finals.[3]

The Nations League Finals will be played in single-leg knockout matches, consisting of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final. The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw.[4] All matches in the tournament will utilise the goal-line technology and video assistant referee (VAR) systems.

In the Nations League Finals, if the scores are level at the end of normal time:[5]

  • In the semi-finals and final, 30 minutes of extra time is played.[6] If the score is still level after extra time, the winner is determined by a penalty shoot-out.
  • In the third place play-off, extra time is not played, and the winner is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This is a change from the 2019 finals, which utilised extra time in the third place play-off.)

On 30 April 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the use of a maximum of five substitutions in matches at the Nations League Finals (with a sixth allowed in extra time).[7] However, each team are only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity allowed in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.[8] The use of five substitutes has been permitted by IFAB during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the resulting fixture congestion, which has created a greater burden on players.[9]

Qualified teamsEdit

The four group winners of League A qualified for the Nations League Finals.[10] All four teams are making their debut in the Nations League Finals.

Group Winners Date of
qualification 		Previous finals appearances UNL Rankings
November 2020 		FIFA Rankings
September 2021
A1   Italy (host) 18 November 2020 0 (debut) 3
A2   Belgium 18 November 2020 0 (debut) 2
A3   France 14 November 2020 0 (debut) 1
A4   Spain 17 November 2020 0 (debut) 4

ScheduleEdit

The Nations League Finals, originally scheduled for 2–6 June 2021, were moved to 6–10 October 2021 following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11][3] The tournament will take place over five days, with the semi-finals on 6 and 7 October (the first of which features the host team), and the third place play-off and final three days after the second semi-final on 10 October 2021.[1]

Host selectionEdit

Italy was confirmed as the host country by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 3 December 2020.[12][13] Only League A teams could bid for the Nations League Finals, and only one of the four participants is selected as hosts. The Nations League Finals are held in two stadiums, each with a seating capacity of at least 30,000. Ideally, the stadiums are located in the same host city or up to approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) apart.

On 24 September 2020, UEFA announced that Italy, the Netherlands and Poland had declared interest in hosting the tournament, all three of which are members of Group A1.[1] Italy were confirmed as winners of Group A1 over the Netherlands and Poland on 18 November 2020, thereby confirming hosting rights pending UEFA's formal approval on 3 December 2020.[4] If the fourth member of the group, Bosnia and Herzegovina, had qualified for the Nations League Finals, the UEFA Executive Committee would have decided the venues.[14]

Bidding venues

VenuesEdit

In their bid dossier, the Italian Football Federation proposed the San Siro in Milan and Juventus Stadium in Turin as the venues.[14][17]

 Milan Turin
San Siro Juventus Stadium
Capacity: 75,923 Capacity: 41,507
   

DrawEdit

The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 3 December 2020, 17:30 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[18][19][20][21] The first two teams drawn were allocated to match pairing A, while the remaining two teams drawn were allocated to match pairing B.[22] For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team. The administrative home team for both the third place play-off and final were predetermined as the teams which advanced from semi-final 1.[5]

SquadsEdit

Each national team has to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom have to be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player becomes injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he will be replaced by another player.[5]

BracketEdit

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 October – Milan
 
 
  Italy
 
10 October – Milan
 
  Spain
 
Winners Match 1
 
7 October – Turin
 
Winners Match 2
 
  Belgium
 
 
  France
 
Third place play-off
 
 
10 October – Turin
 
 
Losers Match 1
 
 
Losers Match 2

All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).

Semi-finalsEdit

Italy vs SpainEdit

Italy  Match 1  Spain
Report

Belgium vs FranceEdit

Belgium  Match 2  France
Report

Third place play-offEdit

Losers Match 1Match 3Losers Match 2
Report

FinalEdit

Main article: 2021 UEFA Nations League Final
Winners Match 1Match 4Winners Match 2
Report

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ a b c "Two triple-headers approved for 2021 March and September national team windows". UEFA. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Portugal 0–1 France: N'Golo Kante winner sends Blues into finals". BBC Sport. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b "European Qualifiers: FIFA World Cup – Qualifying draw procedure" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b "UEFA Nations League finals: All you need to know". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Regulations of the UEFA Nations League, 2020/21" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 13 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Amendments to football's Laws of the Game in various UEFA competitions". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Five substitutions allowed at UEFA EURO 2020 and 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals". UEFA. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Temporary amendment to Law 3" (PDF). International Football Association Board. Zürich. 8 May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  9. ^ "IFAB approves trials with additional concussion substitutes". International Football Association Board. 16 December 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Who is in the Nations League finals?". UEFA. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Resolution of the European football family on a coordinated response to the impact of the COVID-19 on competitions". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  12. ^ "UEFA Executive Committee agenda for December meeting". UEFA. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Tirana to host first UEFA Europa Conference League Final". UEFA. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  14. ^ a b c "Milan and Turin candidates to host UEFA Nations League finals". Italian Football Federation. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Nederland kandidaat voor organisatie Nations League Finals 2021" [The Netherlands candidate for organiser of the 2021 Nations League Finals]. Royal Dutch Football Association (in Dutch). 24 September 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  16. ^ "Polska walczy z rywalami z grupy o organizację final four Ligi Narodów" [Poland is fighting with rivals from the group to organise the final four of the Nations League]. TVN24 (in Polish). 24 September 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Nations League finals host confirmed: Milan and Turin to stage 2021 games". UEFA. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  18. ^ "UEFA Nations League finals draw". UEFA. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  19. ^ "UEFA Nations League finals draw". UEFA. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  20. ^ "2021 UEFA Nations League Finals Press Kit" (PDF). UEFA. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Nations League finals draw: Italy vs Spain, Belgium vs France". UEFA. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  22. ^ "UEFA Nations League 2020/21: Finals draw procedure" (PDF). UEFA. 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.

External linksEdit

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