NATIONS LEAGUE AUTUMN WINDOW
Nations League Autumn Window: The Matches to Watch
Four rounds, thirteen days, twenty-four League A matches. The Nations League has never front-loaded this much football — and the opening fortnight of the 2026/27 edition hands us a genuinely ridiculous set of fixtures. Here are the matches worth clearing your calendar for, from the first whistle on 24 September to the last one on 6 October.
Opening night: Netherlands vs Germany
The competition starts with the oldest argument in European football. Germany and the Netherlands have been circling each other for fifty years, and there is no gentle way into a Nations League group — Group A2 also contains Serbia and Greece, so dropping points on day one hurts immediately.
Both sides arrive with something to prove. Germany reached the 2025 finals on home soil and lost to Portugal; the Netherlands have been the nearly-men of this competition, finishing second in 2019 and fourth in 2023. One of them will be chasing the group from the first week.
Watch for: the two fixtures are back-to-back. They meet again on 16 November in the final round — which means Group A2 could be decided by the same pair of teams that opened it.
25 September: Italy vs Belgium and Türkiye vs France
Round one's second day is the deepest. Italy vs Belgium is Group A1's headline: two nations who have spent the last decade trading places in the world rankings, and both of whom need a fast start in a group that also holds France and a Türkiye side that has been climbing hard.
Then there is Türkiye vs France. Türkiye won promotion into League A and have been one of the most improved teams in Europe over the last two years. France, meanwhile, finished fourth at the World Cup and will want to reset the mood straight away. On paper it is a mismatch; in a first-round game in Istanbul it very rarely is.
Group A1
Nobody can afford a slow start
France, Italy, Belgium and Türkiye in one group is the toughest draw of the whole competition. Three of the four have reached a Nations League finals before.
Shop Italy →Group A3
The world champions' group
Spain, Croatia, England and Czechia. Spain are the current world champions; England are back in League A after a promotion season.
Shop Croatia →26 September: England vs Spain
This is the one. England opened their promotion campaign in League B and won it; their reward is a League A group with the reigning world champions, plus Croatia and Czechia. And the very first home fixture of their return is against Spain.
There is real history here. Spain beat England in the final of the 2023 Nations League — on penalties, after a goalless 120 minutes. England have since rebuilt, and they finished the World Cup as the third-best team on the planet. Spain finished it as champions.
The pair meet again on 15 November, in the last round. Whether that game decides the group or settles old business, it is already the fixture the whole autumn is built around.
The rest of the opening fortnight
Beyond the obvious, the autumn block is stacked with games that decide the competition's shape. These are the ones we would not skip.
| Date | Fixture | Group | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Sep | Netherlands vs Germany | A2 | The opener, and the start of a two-legged argument |
| 24 Sep | Portugal vs Wales | A4 | Two-time champions open against the promoted side with the hardest run |
| 24 Sep | Norway vs Denmark | A4 | Scandinavian derby, and Norway's first ever League A game |
| 25 Sep | Italy vs Belgium | A1 | Two heavyweights, no margin for error |
| 25 Sep | Türkiye vs France | A1 | The promoted side against the tournament's most dangerous squad |
| 26 Sep | England vs Spain | A3 | A 2023 final rematch, first game back at this level |
| 26 Sep | Czechia vs Croatia | A3 | Croatia's tournament know-how against another promoted nation |
| 27 Sep | Norway vs Portugal | A4 | Four days after Denmark, Norway get the champions |
| 27 Sep | Serbia vs Netherlands | A2 | Three days after Germany, the Dutch face a bruising away trip |
| 28 Sep | Belgium vs France | A1 | Two nations who have shared a finals semi-final before |
| 29 Sep | Spain vs Croatia | A3 | Spain's first home game as world champions |
| 1 Oct | Wales vs Norway | A4 | Wales's biggest home night of the group phase |
| 2 Oct | France vs Italy | A1 | Round three, and probably the group's defining match |
| 3 Oct | Croatia vs England | A3 | England's hardest away trip of the block |
| 3 Oct | Spain vs Czechia | A3 | Four games in eight days for a promoted side |
| 4 Oct | Portugal vs Norway | A4 | The champions against the competition's leading scorer |
| 5 Oct | Italy vs Türkiye | A1 | Türkiye's third heavyweight in eleven days |
| 6 Oct | England vs Czechia | A3 | Last game of the block, and a chance to close the group out early |
Kick-off times are set by UEFA and differ by fixture — check the UEFA schedule before planning anything.
Three storylines for the autumn
Storyline one
England's return
Relegated in 2023, promoted in 2025, and handed the world champions on match day one. England's League A comeback is the box-office storyline of the group phase.
Storyline two
Norway's arrival
Norway have been climbing for years and finally won promotion into League A. Their reward is a group with Portugal, Denmark and Wales — three sides with recent finals pedigree.
Storyline three
Life after the World Cup
Spain and France played seven games each in the summer. A four-match autumn block thirteen weeks later will test squad depth more than any game at the tournament did.
How to follow the whole block
Every round spreads across two or three days, so there is almost always a match on. If you are following a single nation, the pattern is straightforward:
Split the window
Days one to four
24–29 September. Two games for every nation, with the second often coming three days after the first. Rotation is inevitable.
Split the window
Days five to thirteen
1–6 October. The reverse fixtures land fast, and by the end of this block most groups have a clear shape.
New to the competition? Read our full 2026/27 Nations League guide for every group, all six match days and the complete League A fixture list.
Wear it for the first whistle
Twenty-four League A matches in thirteen days. Get your colours before kick-off.
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