UEFA Nations League 2026/27 · League A shortlist
10 Must-Watch MatchesEvery tie worth circling in the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League league phase
Ten dates to put in the diary between 26 September and 16 November: the ties that carry the most history, decide all four League A groups, and are played twice inside eight weeks.
The 2026/27 UEFA Nations League is a short, dense competition: the whole league phase runs from 24 September to 17 November, with matchdays 1 to 4 inside a single thirteen-day block in the autumn. Ten fixtures stand out — for the history between the countries, for what the group table looks like when they meet, and for the fact that every one of them is played twice inside eight weeks.
This is the selection that sits alongside our complete 2026/27 fixture guide. That page owns the full picture: all 156 league-phase matches, every group, every matchday and the kick-off times. This one is the shortlist — the ten ties to plan around, with the reverse fixture for each.
The ten at a glance
Listed in date order, with the published kick-off time in Central European time and the reverse fixture for each. Home team first, exactly as the fixture is scheduled.
| # | Match | Date | Grp | Kick-off | Other leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England vs Spain | Sat 26 Sep | A3 | 20:45 CEST | Sun 15 Nov |
| 2 | Germany vs Greece | Sun 27 Sep | A2 | 20:45 CEST | Sun 4 Oct |
| 3 | Croatia vs England | Sat 3 Oct | A3 | 18:00 CEST | Thu 12 Nov |
| 4 | Portugal vs Norway | Sun 4 Oct | A4 | 20:45 CEST | Sun 27 Sep |
| 5 | France vs Belgium | Mon 5 Oct | A1 | 20:45 CEST | Mon 28 Sep |
| 6 | Italy vs France | Thu 12 Nov | A1 | 20:45 CET | Fri 2 Oct |
| 7 | Netherlands vs Greece | Fri 13 Nov | A2 | 20:45 CET | Thu 1 Oct |
| 8 | France vs Türkiye | Sun 15 Nov | A1 | 20:45 CET | Fri 25 Sep |
| 9 | Spain vs England | Sun 15 Nov | A3 | 20:45 CET | Sat 26 Sep |
| 10 | Germany vs Netherlands | Mon 16 Nov | A2 | 20:45 CET | Thu 24 Sep |
Nine of the ten are scheduled for 20:45 Central European time. The exception is Croatia vs England on 3 October, which kicks off at 18:00. Two of the ten have already been played at the time of publication — England vs Spain on 26 September and Germany vs Greece on 27 September — and their reverse fixtures are still to come, on 15 November and 4 October respectively.
How these ten were chosen
Three filters, applied to the whole League A league phase:
Ties with recent tournament history. Six of the ten pairings have met at a World Cup or a European Championship in the last decade, and three of them have decided a final or a semi-final: England and Spain met in the Euro 2024 final, Croatia and England in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, and France and Belgium in both the 2018 World Cup semi-final and the 2021 Nations League semi-final.
Groups where the top two are genuinely open. All four League A groups are represented, and Group A2 supplies three of the ten. League A is the only league in this competition that feeds the March quarter-finals, so the top two places in each group are the ones that matter.
Two legs inside eight weeks. Every tie on this list is played home and away, and in several cases the return arrives quickly: Portugal and Norway are seven days apart, and Group A1's Italy fixture and France fixture are three days apart in November.
The ten, match by match
1. England vs Spain — Saturday 26 September 2026
The league phase opens with the fixture that ended the last major tournament: England against Spain, at Wembley, on the first Saturday of the competition. Their most recent meeting was the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, which Spain won 2-1 through Nico Williams and a late Mikel Oyarzabal goal after Cole Palmer had equalised.
Wembley also hosted the sides' Nations League meetings in the autumn of 2018, when Spain won 2-1, and England answered five weeks later with a 3-2 win in Seville. Their other recent tournament meeting was the Euro 1996 quarter-final at Wembley — a goalless draw that England won on penalties.
2. Germany vs Greece — Sunday 27 September 2026
Greece have never beaten Germany. The two countries first met in 1960, and the record is still one-sided: their only previous meeting at a European Championship final tournament was a 0-0 draw in the 1980 group stage in Italy, the point that sent West Germany to the final, and when they were drawn together again in the Euro 2012 quarter-final Germany won 4-2. Greece also lost both 2002 World Cup qualifiers between the sides, 2-0 in Hamburg and 4-2 in Athens.
Unlike most of the fixtures on this list, this one is still ahead of the reader: the second leg in Greece follows on 4 October, in the same international window.
3. Croatia vs England — Saturday 3 October 2026
The most recent meeting between Croatia and England was a 4-2 England win in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup. The one before it is the match both sets of supporters still talk about: the 2018 World Cup semi-final in Moscow, where Croatia came from behind to win 2-1 after extra time and reach their first World Cup final. Croatia also won 3-2 at Wembley in November 2007, the result that kept England out of Euro 2008.
England's wins in the fixture include 4-2 at Euro 2004 and 1-0 at Euro 2020, both in the group stage. This time the home leg will be played behind closed doors, under a UEFA disciplinary sanction. It is not the first time this pairing has been played in an empty stadium in Croatia: the October 2018 Nations League meeting between them there finished 0-0.
4. Portugal vs Norway — Sunday 4 October 2026
Norway's only win over Portugal this century came in Oslo in September 2010, a 1-0 in Euro 2012 qualifying. Portugal won the other three meetings, including the return in June 2011 and a 3-0 friendly in May 2016, and Norway have not scored against Portugal since that night in Oslo.
The two legs are seven days apart, which makes this the tightest turnaround of any pairing on the list: whatever shape Group A4 takes in Norway carries straight into the return in Portugal.
5. France vs Belgium — Monday 5 October 2026
This is both countries' most frequent international fixture, and 2026/27 is the second consecutive Nations League edition in which they share a group. France have won each of the last five competitive meetings: the 2018 World Cup semi-final 1-0, the 2021 Nations League semi-final 3-2 after Belgium had led 2-0, the Euro 2024 round of 16 1-0, and both matches when the pair were drawn together in the 2024/25 league phase. Belgium's last win over France was a 4-3 friendly in June 2015.
6. Italy vs France — Thursday 12 November 2026
Italy and France have contested a European Championship final and a World Cup final inside six years. France won the Euro 2000 final in Rotterdam with a David Trezeguet golden goal in extra time, after Sylvain Wiltord had equalised in the last minute of normal time. Italy won the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin on penalties.
They were drawn together in the Euro 2008 group as well, Italy winning 2-0, and they met in the 1998 World Cup quarter-final, which France won on penalties. Group A1's first leg in France is on 2 October, six weeks before this one.
7. Netherlands vs Greece — Friday 13 November 2026
Greece's only win in this fixture was a 2-1 friendly win in Eindhoven in September 2016. The two most recent meetings were the Euro 2024 qualifiers in 2023, and the Netherlands won both: 3-0 at home in September and 1-0 away in Athens the following month. The sides had met once before at a major tournament, at Euro 1980 in Italy, where the Netherlands won 1-0 in the group stage.
For Greece this is a first in itself. 2026/27 is their first season in League A, which puts them in with the Netherlands, Germany and Serbia in Group A2 — the group that supplies three of the ten fixtures on this list.
8. France vs Türkiye — Sunday 15 November 2026
Türkiye's first ever win over France came in Euro 2020 qualifying: a 2-0 win at home in June 2019 against the reigning world champions, with goals from Kaan Ayhan and Cengiz Ünder. The return at the Stade de France that October finished 1-1.
The fixture closes Group A1 on the final matchday of the league phase, alongside Italy's trip to Belgium.
9. Spain vs England — Sunday 15 November 2026
The return of the Wembley meeting, and the second half of the group's most-watched pairing. It is Spain's first competitive home match against England since the 2018/19 Nations League, which England won 3-2 in Seville. Their last World Cup meeting was a goalless draw in the second group stage in 1982, in Madrid.
Both of these sides also play Croatia home and away in Group A3, so by this point in November the group's top two places are decided by a set of results rather than a single night.
10. Germany vs Netherlands — Monday 16 November 2026
Germany and the Netherlands have been playing each other since 1910, and their second meeting of the competition closes Group A2 on the last matchday of the league phase. The Netherlands have won the last two competitive meetings between the sides, in the 2018/19 Nations League and in Euro 2024 qualifying, and their World Cup meetings include the 1974 final and the 1990 round of sixteen.
The first leg was the opening match of the whole competition, in Amsterdam on 24 September. The full history of the rivalry is here.
Kick-off times, and the hour that changes
UEFA publishes the league-phase fixture list in Central European time, and 20:45 is the standard slot — 9 of the 10 matches above start then, and 1 starts earlier.
There is one detail worth getting right. The league phase straddles the end of European summer time, which falls on Sunday 25 October 2026. September and October matchdays are played in Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+2); the November matchdays are played in Central European Time (CET, UTC+1). The published clock time does not move — 20:45 either way — but the moment in real time shifts by an hour between the two windows.
In practice: 20:45 CEST is 19:45 in London, Dublin and Lisbon, and 20:45 CET is 19:45 there as well, because the United Kingdom and Ireland change their clocks on the same weekend. Further east and further west the two windows diverge. Our fixture guide carries the full conversion table.
Follow your nation
All twelve nations on this list have a national-team range in the store, and the 2026/27 home shirts are in stock for each of them.
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2026/27 home shirts for the nations on this list
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2026/27 England Home Shirt (Mainoo 16)
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2026/27 Spain Home Shirt (Merino 6)
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2026/27 France Home Shirt (Zaire Emery 18)
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2026/27 Turkey Home Shirt (Arda Guler 8)
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2026/27 Italy Home Shirt (Locatelli 5)
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2026/27 Germany Home Shirt (Kimmich 6)
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2026/27 Netherlands Home Shirt (Malen 18)
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2026/27 Portugal Home Shirt (Ruben Dias 3)
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2026/27 Norway Home Shirt (Odegaard 10)
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2026/27 Greece Home Shirt (Pavlidis 14)
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2026/27 Croatia Aero-Fit Match Home Shirt (Modric 10)
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2026/27 Belgium Home Shirt (Lukaku 9)
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Frequently asked questions
Which ten matches are on this list?
England vs Spain (26 September), Germany vs Greece (27 September), Croatia vs England (3 October), Portugal vs Norway (4 October), France vs Belgium (5 October), Italy vs France (12 November), Netherlands vs Greece (13 November), France vs Türkiye and Spain vs England (both 15 November) and Germany vs Netherlands (16 November).
Which of the ten does not kick off at 20:45 Central European time?
Croatia vs England on Saturday 3 October, which is scheduled for 18:00 CEST. The other nine all start at 20:45.
Do all ten fixtures have a second leg?
Yes. Every League A group is played as a double round-robin, so each of these ten matches is played home and away inside the same league phase. The second leg of every tie on this list falls between 27 September and 16 November 2026.
How many nations appear across the ten matches?
Twelve: Spain, England, France, Türkiye, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Croatia and Belgium.
Which groups do the ten fixtures come from?
All four League A groups. Group A1 supplies three of them, Group A2 supplies three, Group A3 supplies three and Group A4 supplies one.
When is the first leg of each tie played?
The first legs run from 24 September to 5 October, and the second legs from 12 to 16 November. The League A quarter-finals then follow on 25 to 30 March 2027.
What time do the matches kick off in Europe?
20:45 Central European time is the standard slot. September and October matchdays are played in Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) and the November matchdays in Central European Time (UTC+1), so the same published clock time is one hour later in real time in November.
Does this page carry results or predictions?
No. This is a fixture list: dates, kick-off times, groups and the reverse fixture for each match. No scores and no forecasts are included, so the page reads the same way whenever you open it.
10 Must-Watch Matches in the 2026/27 UEFA Nations League. Ten League A fixtures from the league phase, with dates, kick-off times in Central European time, groups and the reverse fixture for each.
Fixtures, dates and kick-off times are taken from UEFA’s official league-phase fixture list; venues and broadcast details are confirmed closer to each match. Part of a series on European football: the complete 2026/27 Nations League fixture guide, Germany vs Netherlands: the history of a 116-year rivalry, and Messi’s last tango.