UEFA Set to Approve Champions League-Style Overhaul
UEFA's executive committee meets in Thessaloniki to ratify a 36-team league-phase model for the Nations League and Euro/World Cup qualifying, starting 2028/29.
UEFA's executive committee meets in Thessaloniki on Tuesday to ratify a Champions League-style overhaul of the Nations League and of qualifying for the European Championship and World Cup, extending the 36-team league-phase model adopted for the Champions League in 2024/25 into international football.
The change takes effect in 2028/29, not before. Both competitions will move to a divisional structure loosely modelled on the club game's format, though with differences between them.
The Nations League shrinks from four leagues to three, each with 18 teams split into three groups of six. Sides play six matches against five different opponents: home or away against teams from other pots, and home-and-away against the side drawn from their own pot.
The quarter-finals and Final Four survive the redesign untouched. The top two in each group qualify for the knockout stage, along with the two best third-placed sides from League A's three groups. Bottom-placed teams in Leagues A and B drop to B and C respectively, while group winners in Leagues B and C move up to A and B.
Qualifying for the Euros and the World Cup adopts a similar tiered approach: League 1 will comprise the 36 teams from Nations League Divisions A and B, with League 2 made up of the remaining 18 sides from the lower divisions.
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