The Nations League or League of Nations is a tournament that UEFA invented to give official title to friendly matches between great teams.
The competition is held every two years in Europe and each of the teams are grouped into divisions or leagues based on their level.
The goal is for the matches to be much more even than in the typical preparatory friendly matches for a Euro Cup or a World Cup.
Croatia, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands reached the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League finals, although the hosts were knocked out in the semi-finals after a dramatic extra-time loss to Croatia in Rotterdam.
On the other hand, Spain (2021) and the Netherlands (2019) were runners-up in the first two editions of the tournament, while Italy finished third two years ago. For Croatia it is their first final phase.
If Spain stood out in the Nations League for anything before sealing their pass to a second consecutive final phase, it was their sporting ups and downs.
The 2021 runners-up struggled to gain momentum in the early games, with a pair of draws followed by a narrow victory in Switzerland, which then condemned La Roja to their first home defeat since 2018.
Later, they showed character and grit to secure a valuable victory in Portugal, with a late goal by Álvaro Morata sealing their place in the semi-finals.
The Nations League final will be played this Sunday, June 18, at 8:45 p.m. in Rotterdam (Netherlands).
In the UEFA Nations League, each national team risks its prestige as a country, the option to opt for a prize pool of almost 35 million euros for all teams and also to obtain a place in the next World Cup in 2026.
The distribution of prizes made by UEFA in the 2022/2023 Nations League tournament is as follows:
According to the criteria of The Trust Project