The UEFA Nations League is a four-tiered league system introduced to add more structure to the international football calendar.
UEFA, the governing body for European football, vows it will “improve the quality and standing of national team football”.
The format consists of four leagues, with League A containing the best-ranked nations; League D the lowest-ranked nations.
Within each league are four groups of three or four teams.
Each of UEFA’s 55 member associations were drawn into their league as per their UEFA coefficient ranking on 11 October 2017.
England were drawn into League A – consisting of four groups of three – as they were ranked sixth in October 2017.
Within League A, England were then drawn into Group A4, along with Spain and Croatia.
England will play both nations home and away across September, October and November 2018, after which the UEFA League Nations group matches will be complete.
The top team from Group A4 will enter the finals alongside the winners of groups A1, A2 and A3.
The finals consist of two semi-finals, a third-place match and the final. The matches will take place in June 2019.
The finals will be held by one of the four finals nations, to be announced in December 2018.
When are England’s UEFA Nations League fixtures?
(All listed games in 2018)
Saturday 8 September – England v Spain – 19.45 BST
Friday 12 October – Croatia v England – 19.45 BST
Monday 15 October – Spain v England – 19.45 BST
Sunday 18 November – England v Croatia – 13.00 GMT
Will England still play international friendlies?
Yes. UEFA have alotted six matchdays for UEFA Nations League group games, as one group in League C and all groups in League D contain four nations.
That means there are two matchdays on which England can play international friendlies, like the one against Switzerland on Tuesday 11 September.
Gareth Southgate’s men will also welcome USA to Wembley on Thursday 15 November.
UEFA state on their website: “While the UEFA Nations League will replace most friendly internationals, there will still be space in the calendar for friendlies.
“Especially for top teams who may want to face opposition from outside Europe as they will be in groups of three teams.
“UEFA is also keen that European teams will still have the chance to play opponents from other confederations.”
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