France, Germany, Portugal and Spain booked their place in the 2025 UEFA Nations League finals after coming through a thrilling set of quarter-finals.
The competition was expanded for this edition, with a new quarter-final stage played over two legs on 20 and 23 March.
Ties involved the League A group winners and runners-up, with the quarter-final victors advancing to June’s finals.
Quarter-final results
First legs: Thursday 20 March
Netherlands 2-2 Spain
Croatia 2-0 France
Denmark 1-0 Portugal
Italy 1-2 Germany
Second legs: Sunday 23 March
Spain 3-3 Netherlands, aet (agg: 5-5, Spain win 5-4 on pens)
France 2-0 Croatia, aet (agg: 2-2, France win 5-4 on pens)
Portugal 5-2 Denmark, aet (agg: 5-3)
Germany 3-3 Italy (agg: 5-4)
Extra time and penalties?
As was the case in three of the ties, if teams were level after 180 minutes, two 15-minute periods of extra time were played at the end of the second leg.
If teams were still level after extra time, as happened in France and Spain, a penalty shoot-out determined the winner.
How will the 2024/25 Nations League finals work?
The semi-finals are scheduled for Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 June 2025.
The winners advance to the final on Sunday 8 June, while the two beaten semi-finalists will contest the match for third place earlier the same day.
The winners of the quarter-final between Italy and Germany were destined to stage the four-team final tournament, with Germany ultimately triumphing.
Semi-final ties
Germany vs Portugal
Spain vs France
Roll of honour
2018/19: Portugal
2020/21: France
2022/23: Spain.
About the UEFA Nations League
The UEFA Nations League is an international football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport’s European governing body.
The tournament is held every two years, and it was first introduced in 2018.
The competition aims to provide more competitive and meaningful matches for national teams, replacing friendlies with more competitive games.
The 55 UEFA member associations are divided into four divisions based on their UEFA coefficients. Each division is further divided into groups of three or four teams.
Teams play each other home and away in a round-robin format. The top teams in each division qualify for the finals, which determine the overall UEFA Nations League champion.
Teams can be relegated to a lower division or promoted to a higher division based on their performance.
The UEFA Nations League provides more competitive games for national teams, which helps to improve their performance and prepare them for major tournaments.
The competition also helps to determine the UEFA coefficients, which are used to seed teams in UEFA competitions.