The UEFA Women's Nations League is a biennial international women's football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The competition feature three leagues, with promotion and relegation between them in addition to a final tournament to determine the champions. It also acts as part of the qualifying process for the UEFA Women's Championship, FIFA Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football Tournament, depending on the season.
History 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 the UEFA Women's Championship or FIFA Women's World Cup.
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. Before the changes, European qualifiers often had mismatched ties.
Format 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 a round-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. In Summer Olympic years, the Nations League Finals determine the teams that will qualify for the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.
In addition, the competition features promotion and relegation, which takes effect in the next edition of qualification for the UEFA Women's Championship or FIFA 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.
Link with European qualifiers The Women's Nations League is linked with qualification for the UEFA Women's Championship and FIFA 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.
Finals Season Hosts Final Third-place play-off WinnersScore Runners-up Third Score Fourth 2023–24Finals2–02–02025Finals3–0(agg.)4–3(agg.)
Teams reaching the top four TeamWinnersRunners-upThird placeFourth placeTotal 2 (2024, 2025)2 1 (2024) 1 (2025)2 1 (2025) 1 (2024)2 1 (2024)1 1 (2025)1
Records and statistics Top goalscorers Season League A League B League C Player Player Player 2023–24 Lineth Beerensteyn6 Ewa Pajor Kyra Carusa Katie McCabe5 Sharon Beck9 2025 Tessa Wullaert Sandy Baltimore Lea Schüller5 Fortesa Berisha Kateřina Svitková Zara Kramžar5 Amy Thompson Tamara Morávková6
Comprehensive team results by tournament
This table shows the overall performance of each team per Nations League season, including the intervening UEFA Women's Championship or FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying competitions which use an identical league structure, and teams' promotion/relegation between the leagues.
Key: – Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place – Promoted – No movement – Relegated – Participated in promotion/relegation play-offs Q – Qualified for upcoming UEFA Women's Nations League Finals P/R – Qualified for upcoming promotion/relegation play-offs
National team Seasons in league Season Nations League2023–24 Euro 2025qualifying Nations League2025 World Cup 2027 qualifying A B C – 3 1 B32 C37 B25*B25 – – 4 C47 C51 C51 C51 – – 4 C51 C44 C46 C47 4 – – A8 A11 A11*A12 – 1 3 C37 B29 C41 C41 – 2 2 B30 C35 B30 C36 3 1 – A10* A12 A10*B22 – 3 1 B21* B27 B27 C44 – – 4 C40* C41 C47 C49 – 3 1 B23* B25 B31 C39 – – 4 C46 C50 C39*C46 1 3 – B20 A14 B22*B24 4 – – A6 A6 A9*A3 4 – – A5 A7 A6 A5 – – 4 C41 C46 C44 C45 – – 4 C50 C42 C42 C42 1 3 – B18 A13 B23*B21 4 – – A2 A3 A3 A4 – – 4 C48 C40 C50 C48 4 – – A3 A2 A2 A1 – – 2Did not enter C53 C53 – 2 2 B29 C36 B32 C34 – 3 1 B24* B26 B28 C33 4 – – A9* A5 A12*A11 – 2 2 C35 B31 C34 B28 4 – – A7 A4 A7 A8 – – 4 C44 C48 C43 C40 – 1 3 C36 B32 C40*C37 – 1 3 C38* C42 C38 B30 – – 2Did not enter C52 C52 – – 4 C42 C47 C45 C38 – 1 3 C43 C38 C35 B32 – 2 2 C34 B30 C36 B31 – – 4 C49 C49 C48 C43 – 1 3 C39* C39 C37 B29 4 – – A4 A8 A5 A7 – – 4 C45 C45 C49 C50 – 4 – B26* B23 B24*B26 4 – – A12* A10 A8 A6 2 2 – B19 A16 B17 A14 2 2 – A13 B17 A13 B18 2 2 – B17 A15 B21*A9 – 2 2 B31 C34 B29 C35 2 2 – A15 B18 A16 B19 1 3 – B22* B21 B19 A15 – 3 1 B25* B28 C33 B27 1 2 1 B28 C33 B18 A13 4 – – A1 A1 A1 A2 4 – – A11* A9 A4 A10 2 2 – A14 B19 A15 B17 – 3 1 C33 B24 B26*B23 1 3 – B27* B22 B20 A16 2 2 – A16 B20 A14 B20
See also UEFA Nations League (men's competition)
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