Your guide to the Nations League finals

The hosts, who won Euro 2020 just three months ago, will arguably be favourites to claim the silverware after recently breaking the world record for the longest unbeaten run in men’s international football.

Nevertheless, David De Gea’s Spain, a France side containing Raphael Varane, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial, plus the always-dangerous Belgium will have other ideas.

Here’s your guide to the upcoming games and what the Nations League is all about...

WHAT IS THE NATIONS LEAGUE?

Introduced as a way of adding more meaningful games to the international calendar, the Nations League splits UEFA’s 55 member nations into four leagues, based on their coefficients. Within those tiers are groups, where three or four teams play each other on a round-robin basis, usually in the autumn before the qualifiers for the World Cup or European Championships begin. Teams compete within their group for promotion or relegation to a higher or lower league, while play-off spots for major tournaments are also up for grabs. The top team from each of the four groups in the highest-ranked league, League A, qualify for the Nations League finals.

WHO WON THE FIRST EDITION?

The Nations League was first contested in 2018, with England, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland progressing to the inaugural finals, played in Portugal the following June. An England side containing Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, plus future Reds Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho, were beaten by the Dutch in the semis, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick ensured the host nation would compete in the final. Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Donny van de Beek all featured at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto, as Goncalo Guedes’s 60th-minute strike confirmed Fernando Santos’s side as the maiden winners of the competition.

WHEN ARE THIS YEAR’S SEMI-FINALS TAKING PLACE?

6 October: Italy v Spain

The iconic San Siro in Milan plays host to a repeat of the Euro 2020 semi-final, with kick-off set for 19:45 BST on Wednesday. The Azzurri emerged victorious on penalties from that tie and their last competitive defeat came in this competition, three years and 37 games ago. Spain caught the eye in the summer, scoring five in back-to-back games with Slovakia and Croatia and De Gea will be hoping to reclaim his place in the side after an impressive start to the season with United. Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simon played all six of La Roja’s games at the Euros and retained the gloves for September’s internationals.

7 October: Belgium v France

There will be plenty of Premier League interest on Thursday, when FIFA’s no.1 ranked side take on the 2018 world champions at the Juventus Stadium in Turin (19:45 BST kick-off). Varane and Pogba are mainstays in Didier Deschamps’s side, while Martial scored for Les Bleus on his return to the setup in September and will be hungry for more goals after his contribution against Everton at the weekend. Belgium are the only one of the four competing sides never to have a won a major international title and, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku in their prime, they will surely never get a better chance.

WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL?

The two semi-final winners will progress to the showpiece event, to be played at San Siro at 19:45 BST on Sunday 10 October. Extra time and penalties will be played if necessary. Earlier in the day, the two losing sides will compete in the third-place play-off in Turin. England came third in 2019, beating Switzerland on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

WHEN’S THE NEXT NATIONS LEAGUE?

The draw for the 2022-23 Nations League group stages will be held on 16 December in Montreux, Switzerland. The group fixtures are set to take place in June and September 2022, before the Qatar World Cup, with the finals held the following June.

Follow regular updates from the Nations League semi-finals via our rolling international live blog.