{"id":49784,"date":"2026-02-12T22:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=49784"},"modified":"2026-02-12T22:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:42:14","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignnations-league-2026-27-england-and-wales-handed-league-a-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/12\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignnations-league-2026-27-england-and-wales-handed-league-a-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Nations League 2026-27: England and Wales Handed League A Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"soccer24-advanced-banner soccer24-banner-type-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Nations-League-2026-27-England-and-Wales-Handed-League-A-Tests.jpeg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Banner2image\" class=\"soccer24-banner-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p>The draw for the fifth UEFA Nations League (September 2026 \u2013 June 2027) is out, and the newly promoted home nations face a steep climb in the top tier.<\/p>\n<p>\u200bThe Big Groups:<\/p>\n<p>League A:\u200bEngland (Group A3): Will battle Spain, Croatia, and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p>\u200bWales (Group A4): Face reigning champions Portugal, plus Denmark and Norway.<\/p>\n<p>\u200bOther Notables: Group A1 features a \u201cGroup of Death\u201d with France, Italy, and Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>\u200bLeague B Battles:<\/p>\n<p>\u200bScotland (Group B1): Fresh off their first World Cup since 1990, they face Switzerland, Slovenia, and North Macedonia.<br \/>\u200bNorthern Ireland (Group B2): Paired with Hungary, Ukraine, and Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>\u200bRepublic of Ireland (Group B3): Meet Israel, Austria, and Kosovo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u200bHow the Competition Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u200bGroup Stage:<\/strong> Teams play home and away from September to November 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u200bThe Finals:<\/strong> The top two from each League A group enter the Quarter-finals (March 2027), with the Finals held in June 2027.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u200bPromotion &amp; Relegation:<\/strong> * Winners of Leagues B, C, and D are promoted.<br \/>\u200bBottom teams in A, B, and C are relegated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u200bPlay-offs:<\/strong> Second-place teams in B, C, and D face third-place teams from the league above.<br \/>\u200bEuro 2028 Bonus: The best Nations League performers who fail to qualify for the Euros via traditional groups will earn a \u201cbackdoor\u201d spot in the Euro 2028 play-offs.<\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related Posts<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Nations #League #England #Wales #Handed #League #Tests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The draw for the fifth UEFA Nations League (September 2026 \u2013 June 2027) is out, and the newly promoted home&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[527,120,300,552,193,2292],"class_list":["post-49784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-example-3","tag-england","tag-handed","tag-league","tag-nations","tag-tests","tag-wales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49786,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49784\/revisions\/49786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}