2026/27 UEFA Nations League: Complete Fixture Guide, Dates and European Kick-Off Times

The 2026/27 UEFA Nations League is the fifth edition of Europe's national-team league competition. The league phase opens on 24 September 2026 and runs until 17 November 2026, with 156 matches spread across six matchdays in Leagues A, B, C and D. This page is the full fixture reference: every matchday window, every group, and the kick-off time for each match in local Central European time.

2026/27 UEFA Nations League dates at a glance

How the 2026/27 league phase is structured

Fifty-four national teams are split into four leagues: 16 teams in League A, 16 in League B, 16 in League C and six in League D. Leagues A, B and C are each divided into four groups of four; League D is made up of two groups of three. Every team plays six matches — three at home and three away.

The main structural change this season is the calendar. Instead of two matches per international window, teams generally play four Nations League matches in a single extended window between 24 September and 6 October 2026, before completing the league phase with two more fixtures in November. The result is a condensed run of four matchdays in under two weeks, followed by a two-week break, then Matchdays 5 and 6.

The 2026/27 Nations League groups

These are the confirmed group line-ups. Six places in Leagues C and D were still provisional when the draw was made in February 2026, because the League C/D play-offs were not settled until the following month. Those play-offs have since been resolved: Latvia and Luxembourg compete in League C, while Gibraltar and Malta take the two remaining places in League D. Any fixture list that still shows a placeholder such as “Latvia or Gibraltar” or “Malta or Luxembourg” predates that outcome and should be disregarded.

Kick-off times in European time: CEST, CET and why “20:45” means two different times

European fixtures are published in local Central European time, and UEFA lists the standard slot for this competition as 20:45 unless otherwise stated. That single clock time spans two different time zones, because the league phase crosses the end of European summer time.

European kick-off times converted

The 2026/27 league phase uses only four kick-off slots in local Central European time: 15:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:45. Because the competition crosses the end of summer time, each of those slots maps to two different absolute times — one for Matchdays 1 to 4 under CEST, one for Matchdays 5 and 6 under CET.

Several matchdays begin earlier in the day. Afternoon and early-evening slots of 15:00, 16:00 and 18:00 local time also appear across Matchdays 1 to 4 — all of them in CEST — and the same slot pattern repeats in CET for Matchdays 5 and 6. Every time in the tables below is the published local Central European kick-off time; the applicable zone is named in the kick-off column heading of each matchday table, so the CEST and CET distinction stays visible matchday by matchday without repeating it on every row.

League phase fixtures by matchday

All 156 league phase matches are listed below in chronological order, grouped by matchday and by day within the window, with the group each fixture belongs to. Home teams are listed first.

Matchday 1 fixtures — 24–26 September 2026

Matchday 2 fixtures — 27–29 September 2026

Matchday 3 fixtures — 30 September – 3 October 2026

Matchday 4 fixtures — 4–6 October 2026

Matchday 5 fixtures — 12–14 November 2026

Matchday 6 fixtures — 15–17 November 2026

Knockout stage, play-offs and the 2027 finals

The league phase is not the end of the competition. The best sides in League A move into a knockout bracket, and the March 2027 window carries most of the promotion and relegation traffic.

• League A quarter-finals (25–30 March 2027). The eight teams that finish in the top two places of the four League A groups contest two-legged quarter-finals.
• League A/B and League B/C play-offs (25–30 March 2027). The same window hosts the promotion and relegation play-offs, so a number of Nations League places are decided alongside the quarter-final ties.
• Finals (9–13 June 2027). The four quarter-final winners meet in a final tournament to decide the 2026/27 champion. The host has not been confirmed.
• League C/D play-offs (23–28 March 2028). These are scheduled in a separate, later window, so the League C and D picture carries across into the following season.

Promotion, relegation and the EURO 2028 link

In League A, the group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals. The fourth-placed team in each League A group is relegated directly to League B, while the third-placed team goes into a promotion/relegation play-off against a runner-up from League B. In Leagues B, C and D, group winners are promoted; the bottom-placed teams in Leagues A and B are relegated directly.

The 2026/27 Nations League is also expected to be linked to qualifying for UEFA EURO 2028 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Results in this competition give teams a second route into the EURO 2028 play-offs, which is one reason national associations treat the November matchdays as competitive rather than friendly fixtures.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

Fixture list and competition calendar compiled from UEFA’s published Nations League fixture release for the 2026/27 edition. Kick-off times are the published local Central European times. Venues and any late schedule changes are confirmed by UEFA and the participating national associations closer to each matchday.