The 2026–27 UEFA Nations League B is the second division of the 2026–27 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fifth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA.
Format League B consists of 16 UEFA members ranked from 17–32 in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League final overall ranking, split into four groups of four. Each team will play six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on matchdays in September, October and November 2026. The winners of each group will be promoted to the 2028–29 UEFA Nations League A. In addition, the second-placed teams of each group will participate in promotion play-offs against a third or fourth-placed team from League A, while the League B fourth-placed teams will participate in relegation play-offs against the second-placed teams from League C, both taking place in March 2027. In the play-offs, teams from the higher leagues will host the second leg, with the winners of each tie participating in the higher league for the next Nations League season, while the losers will enter the lower league.
Originally, the format for promotion and relegation would have involved only the last-placed teams in Leagues A and B being relegated. The promotion/relegation play-offs would have concerned all third-placed teams in Leagues A and B and all runners-up in Leagues B and C, with extra play-offs concerning the two best last-places in League C to be held in March 2028. However, due to the changes scheduled for the 2028–29 UEFA Nations League, in which the competition will be reduced from four leagues to three leagues of 18 teams, promotion/relegation was rebalanced to make all three upcoming leagues be at 18 teams.
Teams League B includes sixteen teams based on the results of the 2024–25 season: the four group fourth-placed teams from League A, the four losers of the League A/B play-offs, the four group winners from League C and the four winners of the League B/C play-offs.
Team changes The following were the team changes in League B from the 2024–25 season:
+ Incoming Relegated fromNations League A Promoted fromNations League C + Outgoing Promoted toNations League A Relegated toNations League C
Seeding The teams were seeded for the league phase based on the 2024–25 Nations League final overall ranking, considering promotion and relegation between the leagues.
+ Pot 1 Team 17 18 19 20+ Pot 2 Team 21 22 23 24+ Pot 3 Team 25 26 27 28+ Pot 4 Team 29 30 31 32
The draw for the league phase took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 12 February 2026, 18:00 CET. Groups were drawn to contain one team from each pot. For political reasons, Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Kosovo was considered a prohibited clash, and thus those teams were unable to be drawn into the same group.
Groups The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 13 February 2026, the day following the draw.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Goalscorers
Overall ranking Following the league phase, the 16 League B teams will be ordered 17th to 32nd in an interim overall ranking for the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules: The teams finishing first in the groups will be ranked 17th to 20th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing second in the groups will be ranked 21st to 24th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing third in the groups will be ranked 25th to 28th according to the results of the league phase. The teams finishing fourth in the groups will be ranked 29th to 32nd according to the results of the league phase.
A final overall ranking will also be compiled, though this is only used to rank teams within their new leagues for the following edition of the competition.
Notes
References
External links