The 2026–27 UEFA Nations League C is the third division of the 2026–27 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fifth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA.
Format League C consists of 16 UEFA members ranked from 33–48 in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League final overall ranking, split into four groups of four. Each team will play six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on matchdays in September, October and November 2026. The winners of each group will be promoted to the 2028–29 UEFA Nations League B. The second-placed teams of each group will participate in promotion play-offs against the fourth-placed teams from League B in March 2027. In the play-offs, teams from the higher leagues will host the second leg, with the winners of each tie participating in League B the next Nations League season, while the losers will enter League C.
Originally, the promotion/relegation play-offs would have concerned all third-place teams in League B and all runners-up in League C, with extra play-offs concerning the two best last-places in League C and both runners-up in League D to be held in March 2028. However, due to the changes scheduled for the 2028–29 UEFA Nations League, in which the competition will be reduced from four leagues to three leagues of 18 teams, promotion/relegation was rebalanced to make all three upcoming leagues be at 18 teams.
Teams League C includes sixteen teams based on the results of the 2024–25 season: the four group fourth-placed teams from League B, the four winners of the League B/C play-offs, the four third-placed teams from League C, the two group winners from League D and the two losers of the League C/D play-offs.
Team changes The following were the team changes in League C from the 2024–25 season:
+ Incoming Relegated fromNations League B Promoted fromNations League D + Outgoing Promoted toNations League B Relegated toNations League D
Seeding The teams were seeded for the league phase based on the 2024–25 Nations League final overall ranking, considering promotion and relegation between the leagues.
+ Pot 1 Team 33 34 35 36+ Pot 2 Team 37 38 39 40+ Pot 3 Team 41 42 43 44+ Pot 4 Team 45 46 47 48
The draw for the league phase took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 12 February 2026, 18:00 CET. Groups were drawn to contain one team from each pot. Due to excessive travel restrictions, a maximum of one pair of teams identified with excessive travel distance in relation to other countries could be placed in the same group: Iceland with Armenia or Cyprus; Kazakhstan with Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, or Malta. Due to winter venue restrictions, a maximum of two teams whose venues were identified as having high or medium risk of severe winter conditions could be placed in the same group: Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Norway.
Groups The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 13 February 2026, the day following the draw.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Goalscorers
Overall ranking Following the league phase, the 16 League C teams will be ordered 33rd to 48th in an interim overall ranking for the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules: The teams finishing first in the groups will be ranked 33rd to 36th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing second in the groups will be ranked 37th to 40th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing third in the groups will be ranked 41st to 44th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing fourth in the groups will be ranked 45th to 48th according to the results of the league phase.
A final overall ranking will also be compiled, though this is only used to rank teams within their new leagues for the following edition of the competition.
Notes
References
External links