The France team will face Norway, Austria and Portugal from autumn for the first edition of the Women’s Nations League, modeled on the men’s competition, according to the draw carried out on Tuesday by UEFA in Nyon (Switzerland). Les Bleues, present in the first division (Ligue A), were seeded for this new event, which will start from the rally in September 2023. They notably avoided the Netherlands and Spain, two nations reversed in the hat number 2.
Similar to the men’s event launched in 2018, this Women’s League of Nations aims to restore interest in the usual friendly matches in the seasons without qualifications for the Euro or the World Cup. This new tournament has led the French Football Federation (FFF) to cancel its Tournoi de France, a friendly event which has been taking place since 2020 in winter in France.
No place for the Euro
The Women’s League of Nations is divided into three divisions, with a promotion-relegation system as for men. In Ligue A, the four group winners will face each other in a final phase (“Final 4”) in February 2024, and the two finalists will obtain a ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. JO as an organizer. If Les Bleues are in the final, the third in the tournament will qualify for the Games.
Unlike the men’s event, the Women’s Nations League does not offer a place for the Euro via play-offs. But qualifying for Euro 2025 will be directly based on promotions and relegations from the League of Nations, with a new, and complex, qualification system, also based on three divisions.
League A groups (first division):
Group A1: England, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland
Group A2: France, Norway, Austria, Portugal
Group A3: Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Wales
Group A4: Sweden, Spain, Italy, Switzerland
The fourth group teams will thus be relegated to League B for qualifying for Euro 2025, while the third group nations will play a play-off against the second group teams of League B to stay in the first division.