UEFA Nations League Draw, Italy Against France, Spain In Group Not Light

UEFA Nations League Draw, Italy Against France

JAKARTA - The elite teams of Europe, Italy and France, immediately met at the UEFA Nations League group stage. From the draw results held in Paris, Friday, February 9, 2024 in the morning WIB, the two teams were in Group 2 of Liga A.

Group 2 of Liga A is quite tough because of the Italian cobs with the status of jua Euro 2020 and France, the finalists of the 2022 World Cup. They also won the title at the 2018 World Cup.

In addition, there are Israel and Belgium which are inhabited by a row of talented players who play in major European clubs. But Romelu Lukaku et al are always unlucky in big football tournaments.

Italy coach Luciano Spalletti welcomes being in the same group as France. According to him, the team is very motivated to face Les Bleus.

"This tournament was created to raise the level of participating teams. There are matches that give your team the opportunity to grow," said Spalletti.

"The match against France will be tight. We are motivated to be really ready to face them. France is a national team that has a great history," he said.

Meanwhile, defending Spanish champions in Group 4 are competing with Denmark, Switzerland and Serbia. Despite avoiding the initial meeting with France, Germany and Belgium, La Roja remains in a group that is not light. Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente thinks all opponents in the group are not easy to beat.

Germany and Hungary met again in Group 3 stage. In the draw at Euro 2024, the two teams were also in the same group. They competed with the strong Dutch and Bosnian teams.

England are relegated and must compete in Liga B to meet neighboring teams, Ireland. They compete with Greece and Finandia.

The Nations League tournament for the first time made the quarter-finals. With this round, the top two teams from each group in Liga A will qualify for the quarter-finals.

Nations League is also part of Europe's qualification for the 2026 World Cup. Because the best team from group winners but failed to rank first and second in qualifying groups, they got a playoff ticket.

For example, the Netherlands is among the four best in the Nations League. However, in the World Cup group stage, the Netherlands was only able to rank three. Thus the Oranje team will go through the playoffs to fight for tickets to the World Cup.

The draw for the division of the Group Nations League AGroup A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland Group A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel Group A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, BosniaGroup A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia

BGup B1: Rep. Czech, Ukrainian, Albania, Georgia Group B2: England, Finland, Ireland, Greece Group B3: Austria, Norway Slovenia, Kazakhstan Group B4: Wales, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey

CGup C1 League: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Estonia Group C2: Romania, Kosovo, Cyprus, Lithuania/Gibraltar * Group C3: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Belarus Group C4: Armenia, Kep. Faroe, North Macedonia, Latvia

DGup D1 League: Lithuania/Gibraltar*, San Marino, Liechtenstein Group D2: Moldova, Malta, Andorra

(*Lithuania and Gibraltar will play a playoff in March to determine which team to play for League D)

Match 1-2: 5-10 September 2024 Match 3-4: 10-15 October 2024 Match 5-6: 14-19 November 2024 Quarter Finals: 20-23 March 2025 Semifinals: 4-5 June 2025Final and third place race: 8 June 2025