The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The tournament was held in Italy from 6 to 10 October 2021, and was contested by the four group winners of 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. While originally scheduled for 2 to 6 June 2021, the tournament was pushed back due to the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021.
Portugal were the defending champions, having won the inaugural 2019 finals. However, they failed to qualify for the 2021 finals after finishing second in their group behind France.
France won the final 2–1 against Spain for their first UEFA Nations League title.
Format The Nations League Finals took place in October 2021 and were contested by the four group winners of League A. The four teams were each drawn into a five-team group (rather than a six-team group) for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification group stage, thereby leaving the October 2021 window available for the Nations League Finals.
The Nations League Finals were played in single-leg knockout matches, consisting of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final. 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.
In the Nations League Finals, if the scores were level at the end of normal time: In the semi-finals and final, 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If the score was still level after extra time, the winner would be determined by a penalty shoot-out. In the third place play-off, extra time would not be played, and the winner would be determined by a penalty shoot-out (this was a change from the 2019 finals, which utilized extra time in the third place play-off).
On 31 March 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the use of a maximum of five substitutions in matches at the Nations League Finals (with a sixth allowed in extra time). However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity allowed in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. The use of five substitutes had been permitted by IFAB during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the resulting fixture congestion, which created a greater burden on players.
Qualified teams The four group winners of League A qualified for the Nations League Finals.
Group Winners Date ofqualification Previous UNL Finalsappearances Previous bestUNL Ranking UNL RankingsNovember 2020 FIFA RankingsSeptember 2021 A1 (host) 0 (debut) 8 (2018–19) 3 5 A2 0 (debut) 5 (2018–19) 2 1 A3 0 (debut) 6 (2018–19) 1 4 A4 0 (debut) 7 (2018–19) 4 8
Schedule The Nations League Finals, originally scheduled for 2–6 June 2021, were moved to 6–10 October 2021 following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament took place over five days, with the semi-finals on 6 and 7 October (the first of which featured the host team), and the third place play-off and final three days after the second semi-final on 10 October 2021.
Host selection Italy was confirmed as the host country by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 3 December 2020. Only League A teams could bid for the Nations League Finals, and only one of the four participants is selected as hosts. The Nations League Finals were held in two stadiums, each with a seating capacity of at least 30,000. Ideally, the stadiums would be located in the same host city or up to approximately apart.
On 24 September 2020, UEFA announced that Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland had declared interest in hosting the tournament, all three of which are members of Group A1. Italy were confirmed as winners of Group A1 over the Netherlands and Poland on 18 November 2020, thereby confirming hosting rights, which were confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee on 3 December 2020, the same day as the Nations League Finals draw. If the fourth member of the group, Bosnia and Herzegovina, had qualified for the Nations League Finals, the UEFA Executive Committee would have decided the venues.
Bidding venues
San Siro, Milan Juventus Stadium, Turin
Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam De Kuip, Rotterdam
Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw (potential second venue) Stadion Śląski, Chorzów (potential second venue) Stadion Miejski im. Henryka Reymana, Kraków (potential second venue)
Venues In their bid dossier, the Italian Football Federation proposed the San Siro in Milan and Juventus Stadium in Turin as the venues.
Milan TurinSan Siro Juventus StadiumCapacity: 75,923 Capacity: 41,507
Draw The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 3 December 2020, 17:30 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The first two teams drawn were allocated to match pairing A, while the remaining two teams drawn were allocated to match pairing B. For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to the first semi-final 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.
Squads
Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, at least ten 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 was replaced by another player.
Bracket
All times are local, CEST (UTC+2).
Semi-finals
Italy vs Spain
GK 21Gianluigi DonnarummaRB 2 Giovanni Di LorenzoCB 19Leonardo Bonucci (c) CB 23Alessandro BastoniLB 13Emerson PalmieriCM 18Nicolò Barella CM 8 Jorginho CM 6 Marco Verratti RF 14Federico ChiesaCF 20Federico Bernardeschi LF 10Lorenzo Insigne Substitutions:DF 3 Giorgio Chiellini FW 17Moise Kean MF 5 Manuel Locatelli MF 7 Lorenzo Pellegrini DF 4 Davide Calabria Manager:Roberto Mancini GK 23Unai SimónRB 2 César Azpilicueta CB 19Aymeric LaporteCB 3 Pau TorresLB 17Marcos AlonsoCM 8 Koke CM 5 Sergio Busquets (c)CM 9 Gavi RF 22Pablo Sarabia CF 11Ferran Torres LF 21Mikel Oyarzabal Substitutions:FW 7 Yeremy Pino MF 20Mikel Merino MF 6 Bryan Gil MF 10Sergi Roberto Manager:Luis Enrique
Man of the Match: Ferran Torres (Spain)
Assistant referees: Igor Demeshko (Russia) Maksim Gavrilin (Russia) Fourth official: Sergey Ivanov (Russia) Video assistant referee: Pol van Boekel (Netherlands) Assistant video assistant referee: Christian Dingert (Germany)
Belgium vs France
GK 1 Thibaut CourtoisCB 2 Toby AlderweireldCB 3 Jason DenayerCB 5 Jan Vertonghen RM 21Timothy Castagne CM 6 Axel WitselCM 8 Youri Tielemans LM 11Yannick CarrascoRF 7 Kevin De BruyneCF 9 Romelu LukakuLF 10Eden Hazard (c) Substitutions:MF 17Hans Vanaken FW 20Leandro Trossard FW 23Michy Batshuayi Manager: Roberto Martínez GK 1 Hugo Lloris (c)CB 5 Jules KoundéCB 4 Raphaël VaraneCB 21Lucas HernandezRM 2 Benjamin Pavard CM 6 Paul PogbaCM 14Adrien Rabiot LM 22Théo HernandezAM 7 Antoine GriezmannCF 19Karim Benzema CF 10Kylian MbappéSubstitutions:MF 8 Aurélien Tchouaméni DF 12Léo Dubois MF 17Jordan Veretout Manager:Didier Deschamps
Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappé (France)
Assistant referees: Jan Seidel (Germany) Eduard Beitinger (Germany) Fourth official: Harm Osmers (Germany) Video assistant referee: Christian Dingert (Germany) Assistant video assistant referee: Pol van Boekel (Netherlands)
Third place play-off
GK 21Gianluigi Donnarumma (c)RB 2 Giovanni Di Lorenzo CB 15Francesco AcerbiCB 23Alessandro BastoniLB 13Emerson Palmieri CM 18Nicolò Barella CM 5 Manuel LocatelliCM 7 Lorenzo Pellegrini RF 11Domenico Berardi CF 9 Giacomo Raspadori LF 14Federico Chiesa Substitutions:FW 17Moise Kean MF 16Bryan Cristante MF 8 Jorginho FW 10Lorenzo Insigne MF 20Federico Bernardeschi Manager:Roberto Mancini GK 1 Thibaut CourtoisCB 2 Toby Alderweireld CB 3 Jason DenayerCB 5 Jan Vertonghen (c) RM 21Timothy CastagneCM 6 Axel Witsel CM 8 Youri Tielemans LM 22Alexis Saelemaekers RF 17Hans VanakenCF 23Michy BatshuayiLF 11Yannick Carrasco Substitutions:MF 7 Kevin De Bruyne FW 18Charles De Ketelaere FW 20Leandro Trossard Manager: Roberto Martínez
Man of the Match: Domenico Berardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Uroš Stojković (Serbia) Milan Mihajlović (Serbia) Fourth official: Novak Simović (Serbia) Video assistant referee: Marco Fritz (Germany) Assistant video assistant referees: Chris Kavanagh (England) Lee Betts (England) Pol van Boekel (Netherlands)
Final
Statistics
Goalscorers
Assists
Awards Player of the Tournament
The Hisense Player of the Finals award was given to Sergio Busquets, who was chosen by UEFA's technical observers. Sergio Busquets
Top Scorer
The "Alipay Top Scorer Trophy", given to the top scorer in the Nations League Finals, was awarded to Kylian Mbappé, who finished with two goals and two assists in the Nations League Finals. The ranking was determined using the following criteria: 1) goals in Nations League Finals, 2) assists in Nations League Finals, 3) fewest minutes played in Nations League Finals, 4) goals in league phase.
+ Top scorer rankingsRankPlayerGoalsAssistsMinutes Kylian Mbappé22180 Karim Benzema20179 Ferran Torres20133
Goal of the Tournament
The Gazprom Goal of the Tournament was decided by online voting. A total four goals were in the shortlist, chosen by UEFA's technical observers: Karim Benzema (against Spain), Ferran Torres (second goal against Italy), Théo Hernandez (against Belgium) and Romelu Lukaku (against France). Benzema won the award for his goal in the final.
RankGoalscorerOpponentScoreResultRound Karim Benzema1–12–1Final Romelu Lukaku2–02–3Semi-finals Ferran Torres2–02–1Semi-finals4 Théo Hernandez3–23–2Semi-finals
Discipline A player was automatically suspended for the next match for receiving a red card, which could be extended for serious offences. Yellow card suspensions did not apply in the Nations League Finals.
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
Player Offence(s) Suspension(s) Leonardo Bonucci in semi-finals vs Spain (6 October 2021) Third place play-off vs Belgium (10 October 2021)
References
External links
UEFA Technical Report