2019 UEFA Nations League Finals

The Nations League Finals took place in June 2019 and was contested by the four group winners of League A. The four teams were each drawn into a five-team group (rather than a six-team group) for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying group stage, thereby leaving the June 2019 window available for the Nations League Finals.[4]

The competition was played in a knockout format, consisting of two semi-finals, a third place play-off, and a final. The semi-final pairings, along with the administrative home teams for the third place play-off and final, were determined by means of an open draw on 3 December 2018.[5]

The tournament took place over five days, with the first semi-final (which features the host team) on 5 June, the second semi-final on 6 June, and the third place play-off and final on 9 June.[6] The winners of the final was crowned as the inaugural champions of the UEFA Nations League.[7]

The Nations League Finals were played in single-leg knockout matches. If the scores were level at the end of normal time, 30 minutes of extra time were played, where each team was allowed to make a fourth substitution.[8] If the score was still level, the winner was determined by a penalty shoot-out. All matches in the tournament utilised the goal-line technology system.[9] On 3 December, UEFA confirmed that the video assistant referee (VAR) system would be used for the Nations League Finals.[10]

The four group winners of League A qualified for the Nations League Finals.[11]

Group	Winners	Date of qualification	UNL Rankings November 2018	FIFA Rankings April 2019
A1	Netherlands	19 November 2018	3	16
A2	Switzerland	18 November 2018	1	8
A3	Portugal (host)	17 November 2018	2	7
A4	England	18 November 2018	4	4

Portugal was confirmed as the host country by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 3 December 2018 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.[12][13] Only League A teams could bid for the Nations League Finals, and only one of the four participants was selected as hosts. The Nations League Finals was held in two stadiums, each with a seating capacity of at least 30,000. Ideally, the stadiums would have been located in the same host city or up to approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) apart.[14][15]

On 9 March 2018, UEFA announced that Italy, Poland, and Portugal expressed interest in bidding prior to the deadline. The deadline to submit their dossiers was 31 August 2018. As all three associations formed Group A3, the group winner was in line to be appointed as the host, provided that the associations submitted bids which met UEFA's requirements.[16] Poland were relegated from Group A3 on 14 October 2018, leaving Italy and Portugal as potential hosts.[17] On 17 November 2018, Portugal won Group A3 and advanced to the Finals,[18] thereby automatically winning hosting rights, which were confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee on 3 December 2018, the same day as the Nations League Finals draw.[3]

In their bid dossier, the Portuguese Football Federation proposed Estádio do Dragão in Porto and Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimarães as the venues.[3]

Porto Guimarães	Porto	Guimarães
	Estádio do Dragão	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques
	Capacity: 50,033	Capacity: 30,000

The draw took place on 3 December 2018, 14:30 CET (13:30 local time), at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.[19][20][21] No seeding was applied in the draw. The first two balls drawn were allocated as the administrative home teams for each semi-final pairing, with the next two balls drawn allocated as their opponents. For scheduling purposes, the semi-final pairing involving the host team was considered to be semi-final 1. The administrative home team for both the third place play-off and final were then jointly drawn between semi-final 1 and 2.[5]

Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he was replaced by another player.[9]

	Semi-finals				Final
	5 June – Porto
	Portugal	3
					9 June – Porto
	Switzerland	1
					Portugal	1
	6 June – Guimarães
					Netherlands	0
	Netherlands (a.e.t.)	3
	England	1
					Third place play-off
					9 June – Guimarães
					Switzerland	0 (5)
					England (p)	0 (6)

All times are local, WEST (UTC+1).

The prize money to be distributed was announced in October 2018.[44] In addition to the €2.25 million solidarity fee for participating in the Nations League, the four participants received an additional €2.25 million for winning their groups and qualifying for the Nations League Finals.

In addition, the participants received payment based on performance:

• Winners: €6 million
• Runners-up: €4.5 million
• Third place: €3.5 million
• Fourth place: €2.5 million

This meant that the maximum amount of solidarity and bonus fees for the UEFA Nations League winners was €10.5 million.

• Official website
• 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, UEFA.com
• UEFA Technical Report