The France team will know their opponents during the draw for the first edition, which is held in Switzerland on Tuesday.
A brand new competition for women’s selections. The draw for the First League of Nations takes place on Tuesday May 2 in Switzerland. The competition is inspired by the men’s version introduced in 2018, with some clean tweaks. Franceinfo: sport deciphers the operation of this new meeting.
The teams divided into three leagues
The different European selections are divided into three level leagues (A, B and C), according to their UEFA coefficient. Within these leagues, they will be placed, during the draw, in groups of three or four teams. For this first edition, 51 selections are registered and will participate in the competition. The group stage will take place in the fall of 2023, between September and December.
Third European nation in the FIFA rankings, France is in the first hat of League A, along with England, Germany and Sweden, which it is sure to avoid. On the other hand, she could find Spain from the Ballon d’Or Alexia Putellas, Italy or Iceland, two teams she faced in the group stage of the Euro last summer.
A system of promotion, relegation and play-offs between leagues
In the group stage, all the teams will face each other in home and away matches. At its end, the four group winners of League A will qualify for the final phase, scheduled for the end of February 2024, with two semi-finals, small final and final on the program.
The winners of the groups from Leagues B and C will automatically be promoted to the upper league, while the bottom of each group from Leagues A and B will be relegated to the bottom tier, with the worst third in League B.
Round-trip play-offs will also be organized to play for the last places in each league. They will oppose the third of league A and the second of league B, as well as the third of league B and the best second of league C.
A qualifying competition for all major international tournaments
After this first phase, the League of Nations will immediately switch to qualification mode for the next major international competition, starting with the Swiss Euro 2025. Taking into account the first results, a new group stage will be organized on the same principle. The first two of each league group A, therefore eight teams in total, will be directly qualified for the Euro.
There will then be two qualifying lanes to compete for the remaining tickets. The third and fourth in League A will face the best in League C, while the best in League B will compete against each other, all to keep only 14 teams. A final series of play-offs will devote seven winners, all qualified for the group stage of the Euro. They will join the 16th and last qualifier, Switzerland, the host country of the competition.
A small novelty in the microcosm of qualification modes, the Women’s League of Nations will validate places for the Euro, but also for the World Cup. The second edition of the competition, which will run from 2025 to 2026, will thus serve as a springboard for the next World Cup, scheduled for the summer of 2027, according to the same principles, but with fewer places allocated.
The Nations League will also be used as a qualification route for the Olympic Games. The two best teams of the first final phase (except France, already present as host country) will also win their ticket to Paris. The system will repeat itself every four years.