The 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The tournament was held from 4 to 8 June 2025 in Germany, and was contested by the four quarter-final winners from Nations League A. The tournament consisted of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and final to determine the champions of the UEFA Nations League.
Spain were the defending champions, having won the 2023 finals. Portugal won the final against Spain on penalties, following a 2–2 draw after extra time, for their second Nations League title.
Format
The Nations League Finals took place in June 2025 and was contested by the four winners of the League A quarter-finals, the newly introduced round for the 2024–25 season.[1]
The Nations League Finals took place over five days and were played in single-leg knockout matches, which consisted of two semi-finals on 4 and 5 June (the first of which features the hosts), and a third place play-off and final on 8 June 2025. The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw. All matches in the tournament utilised the goal-line technology and video assistant referee (VAR) systems.[2]
In the Nations League Finals, if the scores were level at the end of normal time:[2]
In the semi-finals and final, 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If the score is still level after extra time, the winners would be determined by a penalty shoot-out.
In the third place play-off, extra time would not be played, and the winners would be determined by a penalty shoot-out.
Qualified teams
The four winners of the League A quarter-finals qualified for the Nations League Finals.[3] The three previous champions all managed to qualify for the tournament. They were joined by hosts Germany, who made their first appearance in the tournament. This was the first time any previous winners had qualified for the Nations League Finals after their triumph.
Following the introduction of the quarter-finals, the four participants of the Nations League Finals would not be known until 23 March 2025, a little over two months prior to the tournament. As a result, UEFA revised the bidding process from previous tournament editions. All teams participating in League A whose stadiums met the stadium requirements had to submit a proposal to host the Nations League Finals. Following the league phase, the UEFA Executive Committee would designate one pair of quarter-finalists capable of holding the tournament, with the winner automatically becoming the host. Additionally, associations from outside League A could also submit a bid to hold the tournament as a neutral host, with their bids to be considered only if no pairing of quarter-finalists could offer sufficient guarantees or satisfy the hosting requirements.
UEFA required the tournament to be played at two Category 4 stadiums, each with at least 30,000 net seating capacity (though there may be some flexibility regarding the second stadium). Ideally, the stadiums should not be located more than 150 kilometres (93mi), or a two-hour bus drive, apart. If hosted by a participating team, the larger of the stadiums should hold the first semi-final (featuring the host team) and the final. The bidding timeline was as follows:[4]
18 January 2024: Applications formally invited
15 May 2024, 12:00 CEST: Closing date for registering intention to bid (non-binding) and preferred stadiums
4 September 2024: Bid requirements made available to bidders
23 October 2024: Submission of bid documents
16 December 2024: Host appointment by the UEFA Executive Committee
On 16 December 2024, the UEFA Executive Committee appointed the winner of quarter-final 4, between Italy and Germany, as the provisional hosts for the final tournament.[5][6] On 23 March 2025, Germany became hosts of the tournament after winning their quarter-final tie.[7]
Venues
The matches are played at the Allianz Arena in Munich (Germany's semi-final and the final) and the MHPArena in Stuttgart (the other semi-final and the third place play-off).[8]
The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 22 November 2024, 12:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, along with the draw for the League A quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs.[10][11] As the quarter-finals were not played until March 2025, placeholders were used to represent the winners of quarter-finals 1 to 4. The first two balls drawn were allocated as the administrative home teams for each semi-final pairing, with the next two balls drawn allocated as their opponents. For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team. The administrative home team for both the third place play-off and final were predetermined as the teams which advanced from semi-final 1.[12][13]
Each national team had to submit a squad of between 23 and 26 players,[14] three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least seven days before the opening match of the tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could have been replaced by another player.[2]
The Goal of the Finals was decided by online voting. A total of four goals were in the shortlist, chosen by UEFA's technical observers: Rayan Cherki (against Spain), Francisco Conceição (against Germany), Nuno Mendes (against Spain) and Mikel Merino (against France). Cherki won the award for his goal in the semi-final.[27]
A player or coach would have been automatically suspended for the next match for receiving a red card, which could have been extended for serious offences. Yellow card suspensions did not apply in the Nations League Finals, including any pending suspensions from the league phase and quarter-finals, while yellow cards issued were not carried forward to any other future international matches.[2][28]
Notes
↑The Germany v Portugal match, originally scheduled for 21:00, was delayed by ten minutes due to adverse weather conditions impacting the teams' warm-ups.[15]
↑Stéphane de Almeida (Switzerland) was originally appointed as an assistant referee for the match, but was removed due to his Portuguese ancestry and replaced by Susann Küng.[25]
↑"Liveticker | Deutschland – Portugal 1:2 | Halbfinale | UEFA Nations League 2024/25"[Live ticker | Germany v Portugal 1–2 | Semi-final | 2024–25 UEFA Nations League]. kicker (in German). 4 June 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2025. Aufgrund des Hagelschauers verschiebt sich der Anstoß um zehn Minuten. "Aufgrund schlechter Wetterbedingungen verzögert sich das Spiel. Der Anpfiff ist jetzt 21.10 Uhr", teilten die Organisatoren mit.[The kick-off has been postponed by ten minutes due to the hailstorm. "The match has been delayed due to bad weather conditions. The kick-off time is now 21:10," the organisers announced.]
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Portugal (2nd title)
Spain 
France 
Germany 
