The 2026-27 UEFA Nations League kicked off on 24 September 2026 and it has delivered everything anyone could have asked for: a superstar walkout, a comeback for the ages, historic scorelines, and a new French superstar making the Stade de France erupt.
Here is your complete guide to where everything stands after four matchdays.
The format
League A contains the top 16 UEFA nations, divided into four groups of four. The top two from each group advance to the quarter-finals in March 2027. The Finals follow in June 2027.
Relegated nations drop to League B, while League B’s group winners come up. The entire competition determines UEFA’s top-ranked nations for major tournament seedings and play-off allocations.
Group A1: France dominating, Belgium resilient
France 7pts, Belgium 6pts, Italy 4pts, Turkey 0pts
This is the group of the tournament so far. France have won two and drawn one, scoring just enough and conceding very little. Belgium have been similarly productive. Italy are still in contention. Turkey have lost all three.
The headline came on matchday 4 when France beat Belgium 4-1 in Paris in extraordinary fashion. Belgium led through Lukebakio. Doue equalised. Then Michael Olise came off the bench and did things that made 80,000 people at the Stade de France forget Belgium had ever been winning. Two goals, one assist, three France records broken in one evening. The Stade de France chanted “Olise Ballon d’Or!” until the walls shook.
France top the group. Two matches remain in November. If they avoid disaster, they will reach the quarter-finals for the second consecutive Nations League cycle under different coaches.
Turkey’s campaign has been a write-off. Three games, three losses, eight goals conceded. Relegation is close.
Group A2: Greece the surprise package
Greece 7pts, Germany 5pts, Netherlands 4pts, Serbia 0pts
The surprise of the entire competition sits at the top of Group A2. Greece, working with a squad built on defensive organisation and clinical counter-attacks, have won two and drawn one from three matches. Germany are second. The Netherlands, World Cup semi-finalists, have stuttered but remain in contention.
Germany beat Serbia 2-0 in matchday 3, a solid but unspectacular performance that kept them connected to the group lead. The Netherlands drew their second match and need wins in November to advance. Serbia are already down.
Group A3: England seven, Croatia zero
Croatia 6pts, England 3pts, Spain 3pts, Czechia 3pts
The result that turned heads across Europe came on 3 October when England beat Croatia 7-0. An extraordinary scoreline for a Nations League match. England had been inconsistent before that performance, but seven goals without reply against a Croatia side that reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2026 sent a message.
Group A3 sits peculiarly. Croatia lead despite that 7-0 loss to England, having won their other matches. Spain, World Cup winners just three months ago, are in third on goal difference. Czechia are level with Spain. England are second.
The group will be decided entirely in November, when Croatia face Spain, and England face Czechia. Any combination of results could produce any order. Spain in third place of a Nations League group after winning the World Cup is the kind of detail that reminds you how tournament football and Nations League football are entirely different competitions.
Group A4: Portugal winning without Ronaldo
Portugal 9pts, Denmark 3pts, Norway 3pts, Wales 0pts
The group generating the most headlines for all the wrong and right reasons. Portugal have won all three of their matches, including a 4-2 win over Denmark without Cristiano Ronaldo present. They lead the group comfortably.
The Ronaldo story has dominated this group despite Portugal’s results. In three matches, Ronaldo started one (the Wales win), was an unused substitute for one (Norway), and walked out of camp before the third (Denmark). Portugal won without him anyway. Bruno Fernandes has the captaincy. The team functions.
Whether that creates a lasting shift in Ronaldo’s relationship with the national team remains to be seen. His future in the squad is officially intact: he has confirmed he will continue, asked to be sanctioned for the walkout, and indicated his career with Portugal is not over. What Jesus does with him in November’s matches against Norway and Wales will tell a clearer story.
Wales have lost all three games and are in serious danger of relegation. Norway are solid without being spectacular.
The key matchdays remaining
Matchday 5 and 6 run from 12-17 November 2026. Every group remains open at the top. The Nations League, because of its home-and-away structure and the tight margins in points, consistently produces final-day drama, and this cycle looks no different.
Quarter-finals follow in March 2027, with the Finals in June 2027.
Why the Nations League matters now
A few years ago, the Nations League felt like an add-on, a competition invented to give meaning to international football in the gaps between tournaments. That perception has shifted.
The October 2026 window has included Ronaldo walking out of a squad, Michael Olise breaking France records and receiving Ballon d’Or chants from an 80,000-capacity stadium, England scoring seven goals in a single match, and the newly crowned World Cup winners struggling to win their Nations League group.
This is not filler football. It is football with real stakes, real drama, and real consequences for how nations and coaches build toward the next major tournament. The 2028 European Championship will be shaped by what happens between now and June 2027. The Nations League is where that shaping begins.