Founded in 2018, the UEFA Nations League was devised to provide nations with more competitive matches against equally ranked opposition.
The UEFA Nations League was founded in 2018 as a means of reducing the number of meaningless friendlies on the international football calendar and matching teams with equally ranked nations.
Teams across the European continent compete in a league structure which includes promotion and relegation, with the highest performing sides in League A engaging in a knockout Nations League Finals tournament with a trophy up for grabs.
The Nations League can also boost teams' chances of obtaining qualification for Euros and World Cup finals.
The 2026/27 Nations League will comprise of four leagues - League A to League D - divided in line with teams' performance in the previous 2024/25 Nations League.
Within each league, there are four groups of four teams and each nation will play six matches using the home-and-away round-robin format.
The UEFA Nations League began in 2018/19, with Portugal crowned the inaugural winners of the new competition after a 1-0 win over over the Netherlands in Porto.
UEFA Nations League previous winners: