A women’s UEFA Nations League is set to be launched next year as part of the revamped qualification process for the 2025 European Championship, the governing body said on Thursday.
The new tournament will divide countries into three tiers and teams will play in groups of three or four, with promotion and relegation between the leagues.
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The three-tier Nations League format, with 16 teams in the top level, will start in the autumn of 2023.
“The revamped format is interconnected, dynamic and meritocratic, and aims to create a more competitive environment with greater sporting and commercial interest,” UEFA said in a statement.
Four winners of the four-team groups in the the top level will advance to a Final Four event. The two finalists will also advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics, joining host France as Europe’s entries.
Nations League rankings, with promotion and relegation between the three tiers, will feed into the Euro 2025 qualifying competition that starts in the European spring of 2024.
Eight countries will qualify directly for the 16-team Euro 2025 by winning or finishing runner-up in the four top-tier groups. Seven more Euro 2025 entries will be decided in playoffs scheduled in the autumn of 2024.
UEFA launched the men’s Nations League in 2018 to replace meaningless friendlies with more competitive games.
The announcement comes on the back of this year’s successful women’s European Championship, with the tournament won by hosts England setting records for attendances and television viewers.
“I said this summer that we would continue to invest in women’s football, and we are. Off the back of a historic UEFA Women’s EURO, it is now time to further develop women’s national team football,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
