Kids grow up dreaming of playing for their country and for the few that make it into the professional ranks, appearing for their nation will be the pinnacle of their career. Unless you’re Ben White, who clearly just isn’t all that bothered. For those that do play for a top side, the ultimate dream will be to win the World Cup, whilst those in Europe will also hope to win the European Championship.
The Nations League lacks the prestige or history of those tournaments, or events such as the Copa America or the Africa Cup of Nations. This is partly because the Nations League was founded as recently as 2018 and whilst it does offer silverware, the ‘tournament’ was partly designed as a replacement for friendly international fixtures on FIFA’s International Match Calendar. It sought to provide better competition for players and more interest for fans by making bigger games more frequent, with sides of similar ability meeting more often.
For some of the smaller nations, it also provides a second bite at qualifying for the European Championship. That makes it a potentially important tournament for nations who fail to qualify through the “normal” pathway. However, most top teams do not usually require that backup plan, especially since the Euros expanded to become a 24-team contest.
It seems unlikely to ever rival the World Cup or the various continental championships in terms of prestige. Nonetheless, it is still a trophy and, especially once they get to the business end of things, teams are sure to take it reasonably seriously. But who has won the Nations League thus far?
2018/19 – Portugal Lift Inaugural Trophy
In the first-ever Nations League, most fans and pundits in England thought the Nations League was a little bit of a joke. However, when England qualified for the four-team finals, all of a sudden it became an incredibly serious, high-class tournament and a chance for the Three Lions to end their long wait for silverware. Strange, eh?
The finals saw Portugal (the hosts) fight it out with Gareth Southgate’s England, Netherlands and Switzerland between the 5th and the 9th of June 2019. Portugal saw off Switzerland 3-1 in the first semi final thanks to a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo – who else?
England and Netherlands met in the other semi and although the score was the same, the game was far closer. The Dutch prevailed 3-1 but only after extra time, the clash finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes, with England leading from the 32nd until the 73rd minute of the game.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Three Lions though as they came through a penalty shootout to win the third-place play-off against the Swiss. Third-place play-off games are often derided and having one in a lower-tier tournament like the Nations League seemed especially pointless. However, Gareth Southgate and his team took the opportunity to build on their confidence in shootouts and put their new preparation methods to the test.
The final was won 1-0 by Portugal, with Gonçalo Guedes getting the only goal of the game on the hour mark. The hosts fully deserved the win and all in all, it was felt that the first Nations League had been a success.
2020/21 – Four New Finalists and France Prevail
Two years on we saw four different teams make it through to the finals. Italy did the honours in terms of hosting and welcomed Spain, France and Belgium to Milan and Turin early in October 2021. It was Spain in Milan’s San Siro for the hosts, with the “away” side winning 2-1 thanks to a Fernando Torres brace.
The other semi was a thriller, with France edging past Belgium 3-2. Belgium seemed to be cruising at 2-0 up with less than half an hour to go but Didier Deschamps’ men hit back with three goals in the last 28 minutes, the winner coming from Theo Hernandez on 90 minutes.
That set up a high-profile Spain versus France finale and in the end it was the French, who were world champions at the time, who lifted the trophy. Before that came the play-off game, with Italy winning 2-1 at the Juventus Stadium. The final was back at the San Siro, with France again coming from behind to win.
Spain went in front after 64 minutes but Deschamps’ big guns fired, with Karim Benzema (66th minute) and Kylian Mbappe (80th) earning France yet more silverware.
2022/23 – Spain Go One Better and Lift Nations League
With Spain having recently won the 2024 European Championship, we now know just how good they are but the signs were there with their performance in the 2021 Nations League and especially in 2023. They qualified for their second finals, with Italy and Netherlands doing likewise and Croatia making the cut for the first time.
Croatia got past hosts Netherlands 4-2 after extra time in Rotterdam in the first semi. In the other game, Spain beat Italy 2-1, scoring right at the start of the game and right at the end. Italy ultimately finished third, beating the Dutch 3-2 in Enschede, the final taking place on the same day, the 18th of June, in Rotterdam.
It was a dour game that finished 0-0 after extra time but Spain came through on penalties to lift the Nations League trophy. Their squad for the final included many of the players who did well at Euro 2024, for example Robin Le Normand, Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo and of course Rodri. It was the City midfielder who was named Player of the Tournament too.
What Next?
The next Nations League gets underway in September 2024 and one side that we will definitely not be seeing in the finals is England. Last time around the Three Lions were relegated into League B, where they are in Group B2, alongside Ireland, Finland and Greece. Those finals will take place at the home of one of the four nations that make it that far and will be played between the 4th and 8th of June 2025.