The 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The tournament was held from 4 to 8 June 2025 in Germany, and was contested by the four quarter-final winners from Nations League A. The tournament consisted of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and final to determine the champions of the UEFA Nations League.
Spain were the defending champions, having won the 2023 finals. Portugal won the final against Spain on penalties, following a 2–2 draw after extra time, for their second Nations League title.
Format The Nations League Finals took place in June 2025 and was contested by the four winners of the League A quarter-finals, the newly introduced round for the 2024–25 season.
The Nations League Finals took place over five days and were played in single-leg knockout matches, which consisted of two semi-finals on 4 and 5 June (the first of which features the hosts), and a third place play-off and final on 8 June 2025. The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw. All matches in the tournament utilised the goal-line technology and video assistant referee (VAR) systems.
In the Nations League Finals, if the scores were level at the end of normal time: In the semi-finals and final, 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If the score is still level after extra time, the winners would be determined by a penalty shoot-out. In the third place play-off, extra time would not be played, and the winners would be determined by a penalty shoot-out.
Qualified teams The four winners of the League A quarter-finals qualified for the Nations League Finals. The three previous champions all managed to qualify for the tournament. They were joined by hosts Germany, who made their first appearance in the tournament. This was the first time any previous winners had qualified for the Nations League Finals after their triumph.
Quarter-final winners Date ofqualification Previous UNL Finalsappearances Previous bestUNL performance UNL RankingsNovember 2024 FIFA RankingsApril 2025 2 (2021, 2023) Winners (2022–23) 1 2 1 (2021) Winners (2020–21) 4 3 1 (2019*) Winners (2018–19) 3 7 (host) 0 (debut) Eighth place (2020–21) 2 10
Host selection Following the introduction of the quarter-finals, the four participants of the Nations League Finals would not be known until 23 March 2025, a little over two months prior to the tournament. As a result, UEFA revised the bidding process from previous tournament editions. All teams participating in League A whose stadiums met the stadium requirements had to submit a proposal to host the Nations League Finals. Following the league phase, the UEFA Executive Committee would designate one pair of quarter-finalists capable of holding the tournament, with the winner automatically becoming the host. Additionally, associations from outside League A could also submit a bid to hold the tournament as a neutral host, with their bids to be considered only if no pairing of quarter-finalists could offer sufficient guarantees or satisfy the hosting requirements.
UEFA required the tournament to be played at two Category 4 stadiums, each with at least 30,000 net seating capacity (though there may be some flexibility regarding the second stadium). Ideally, the stadiums should not be located more than , or a two-hour bus drive, apart. If hosted by a participating team, the larger of the stadiums should hold the first semi-final (featuring the host team) and the final. The bidding timeline was as follows:
18 January 2024: Applications formally invited 15 May 2024, 12:00 CEST: Closing date for registering intention to bid (non-binding) and preferred stadiums 4 September 2024: Bid requirements made available to bidders 23 October 2024: Submission of bid documents 16 December 2024: Host appointment by the UEFA Executive Committee
On 16 December 2024, the UEFA Executive Committee appointed the winner of quarter-final 4, between Italy and Germany, as the provisional hosts for the final tournament. On 23 March 2025, Germany became hosts of the tournament after winning their quarter-final tie.
Venues The matches are played at the Allianz Arena in Munich (Germany's semi-final and the final) and the MHPArena in Stuttgart (the other semi-final and the third place play-off).
Had Italy hosted the tournament, the matches would have been played at the Juventus Stadium (both semi-finals and final) and Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino (third place play-off), both in Turin.
Munich Stuttgart Allianz ArenaMHPArena Capacity: 66,000Capacity: 51,000
Draw The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 22 November 2024, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, along with the draw for the League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs. As the quarter-finals were not played until March 2025, placeholders were used to represent the winners of quarter-finals 1 to 4. The first two balls drawn were allocated as the administrative home teams for each semi-final pairing, with the next two balls drawn allocated as their opponents. 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.
Squads
Each national team had to submit a squad of between 23 and 26 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least seven days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could have been replaced by another player.
Bracket
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
Semi-finals
Germany vs Portugal
GK 1 Marc-André ter StegenCB 2 Waldemar Anton CB 4 Jonathan Tah CB 3 Robin KochRM 6 Joshua Kimmich (c)CM 25Aleksandar Pavlović CM 8 Leon GoretzkaLM 18Maximilian Mittelstädt RF 19Leroy Sané CF 17Florian Wirtz LF 11Nick Woltemade Substitutions:MF 21Robin Gosens MF 20Serge Gnabry FW 9 Niclas Füllkrug FW 14Karim Adeyemi MF 7 Felix Nmecha Manager:Julian Nagelsmann GK 1 Diogo CostaRB 15João Neves CB 3 Rúben Dias CB 14Gonçalo InácioLB 25Nuno MendesCM 18Rúben Neves CM 10Bernardo SilvaRW 16Francisco Trincão AM 8 Bruno FernandesLW 20Pedro Neto CF 7 Cristiano Ronaldo (c) Substitutions:MF 23Vitinha FW 26Francisco Conceição DF 2 Nélson Semedo FW 21Diogo Jota MF 6 João Palhinha Manager: Roberto Martínez
Man of the Match: Francisco Conceição (Portugal)
Assistant referees: Tomaž Klančnik (Slovenia) Andraž Kovačič (Slovenia) Fourth official: Matej Jug (Slovenia) Video assistant referee: Alen Borošak (Slovenia) Assistant video assistant referee: Rade Obrenovič (Slovenia)
Spain vs France
GK 23Unai Simón (c)RB 2 Pedro PorroCB 3 Robin Le Normand CB 12Dean HuijsenLB 24Marc CucurellaCM 6 Mikel Merino CM 18Martín ZubimendiCM 20Pedri RF 19Lamine Yamal CF 21Mikel Oyarzabal LF 11Nico Williams Substitutions:FW 10Dani Olmo MF 8 Fabián Ruiz FW 26Samu Aghehowa DF 5 Daniel Vivian MF 9 Gavi Manager:Luis de la Fuente GK 16Mike MaignanRB 19Pierre Kalulu CB 15Ibrahima KonatéCB 5 Clément Lenglet LB 22Théo Hernandez CM 13Manu Koné CM 14Adrien Rabiot RW 7 Ousmane Dembélé AM 11Michael Olise LW 24Désiré Doué CF 10Kylian Mbappé (c)Substitutions:DF 17Malo Gusto FW 20Bradley Barcola FW 25Rayan Cherki DF 21Lucas Hernandez FW 12Randal Kolo Muani Manager:Didier Deschamps
Man of the Match: Lamine Yamal (Spain)
Assistant referees: Stuart Burt (England) James Mainwaring (England) Fourth official: Andrew Madley (England) Video assistant referee: Jarred Gillett (England) Assistant video assistant referee: Michael Salisbury (England)
Third place play-off
GK 1 Marc-André ter StegenRB 6 Joshua Kimmich (c)CB 4 Jonathan Tah CB 3 Robin KochLB 22David Raum CM 5 Pascal Groß CM 8 Leon Goretzka RW 11Nick Woltemade AM 17Florian WirtzLW 14Karim Adeyemi CF 9 Niclas FüllkrugSubstitutions:FW 13Deniz Undav MF 26Tom Bischof DF 18Maximilian Mittelstädt DF 15Thilo Kehrer MF 20Serge Gnabry Manager:Julian Nagelsmann GK 16Mike MaignanRB 17Malo GustoCB 4 Loïc BadéCB 21Lucas Hernandez LB 3 Lucas Digne CM 8 Aurélien Tchouaméni CM 14Adrien RabiotRW 12Randal Kolo Muani AM 25Rayan Cherki LW 9 Marcus Thuram CF 10Kylian Mbappé (c)Substitutions:MF 11Michael Olise FW 24Désiré Doué MF 13Manu Koné MF 6 Mattéo Guendouzi Manager:Didier Deschamps
Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappé (France)
Assistant referees: Branislav Hancko (Slovakia) Ján Pozor (Slovakia) Fourth official: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium) Video assistant referee: Michael Fabbri (Italy) Assistant video assistant referee: Luca Pairetto (Italy)
Final
Statistics
Goalscorers
Awards Player of the Tournament
The Player of the Finals award was given to Nuno Mendes, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers. Nuno Mendes
Goal of the Tournament
The Goal of the Finals was decided by online voting. A total of four goals were in the shortlist, chosen by UEFA's technical observers: Rayan Cherki (against Spain), Francisco Conceição (against Germany), Nuno Mendes (against Spain) and Mikel Merino (against France). Cherki won the award for his goal in the semi-final.
RankGoalscorerOpponentScoreResultRound Rayan Cherki2–54–5Semi-finals— Francisco Conceição1–12–1Semi-finals— Nuno Mendes1–12–2 Final— Mikel Merino2–05–4Semi-finals
Discipline A player or coach would have been automatically suspended for the next match for receiving a red card, which could have been extended for serious offences. Yellow card suspensions did not apply in the Nations League Finals, including any pending suspensions from the league phase and quarter-finals, while yellow cards issued were not carried forward to any other future international matches.
Notes
References
External links