February 8, 2024, 17:57 GMT
Updated 33 minutes ago
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Wales coach Rob Page, England coach Gareth Southgate, Scotland coach Steve Clarke and Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill are waiting for the Nations League again
England have been drawn against the Republic of Ireland, Finland and Greece in their League B group for the 2024-25 Men's Nations League.
Scotland, who are in the top groups of League A, face Croatia, Poland and Portugal.
Wales were placed in the same League B group as Iceland, Montenegro and Turkey.
Northern Ireland will face Belarus, Bulgaria and Luxembourg in their League C group.
Leagues A, B and C each have four groups of four teams each, while League D has two groups of three teams each.
England, relegated to League B after finishing last in Group A3 in the previous edition of the Nations League, last played in a competitive match against the Republic of Ireland in 1991, when they lost 1 in a Euro 92 qualifier There was a :1 draw.
A friendly at Lansdowne Road in 1995 had to be abandoned due to major crowd problems, while the last meeting between the two teams was a friendly in 2020, which England won 3-0.
“There are some teams we haven't played for a while, there will be some difficult games for us,” England coach Gareth Southgate said.
“I think everyone in England will think it was a huge disappointment to be relegated to League B, but there are still difficult games.”
“Of course our goal will be to try to win the group in order to get promoted back to League A.”
It's a difficult question – Scotland boss Clarke
Scotland won Group B1 last time and achieved promotion to League A for the first time.
“It's a difficult question,” Scotland coach Steve Clarke said of his team's group.
“We expected a difficult opponent. This is what we have, but this is what we wanted.”
“I always believe that if you want to improve you have to play against the best teams. We have good opponents and I’m looking forward to the games.”
Wales were in the top flight last time out but finished bottom of Group A4 with one point from six games.
Turkey finished first in the group, while Wales finished third and will face Finland in the play-off semi-finals in March as they aim to qualify for the tournament in Germany.
“It's a positive group, we're very happy with it,” said Wales coach Rob Page about his team's draw in the Nations League.
“We know about Turkey after playing against them recently. As far as the other teams are concerned, we need to do a little more research.”
“We’re pretty confident.”
The Republic of Ireland has remained in League B since the start of the competition and Northern Ireland is back in League C.
“It's an open and competitive group,” said Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill.
“We have a very young team at the moment and I think this will give them the opportunity to win games, give them more experience and help us develop the team, especially with World Cup qualifiers, the next big tournament, that we have to deal with.” “
Each team in Leagues A, B and C will play two group games in September, two in October and two in November 2024.
The League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs will take place in March 2025, before single-game semi-finals and a final in June 2025.
Spain are the defending champions after beating Croatia on penalties last June.
UEFA Nations League 2024-25 groups
Group A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland
Group A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel
Group A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia
Group B1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia
Group B2: England, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Greece
Group B3: Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Kazakhstan
Group B4: Wales, Iceland, Montenegro, Türkiye
Group C1: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Estonia
Group C2: Romania, Kosovo, Cyprus, Lithuania/Gibraltar*
Group C3: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Belarus
Group C4: Armenia, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Latvia
*Gibraltar and Lithuania face a play-out, effectively a relegation play-off, in March 2024 to find out who finishes in Leagues C and D.
Group D1: Lithuania/Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein
Group D2: Moldova, Malta, Andorra
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