The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first season began in September 2018 consisting of four groups in each of the four leagues ranked by UEFA coefficient of each country.

France has been on the highest level of the competition, in League A, since the beginning of this tournament. However France has only been part of the Nations League Finals once, in the 2020–21 season, while in the first season, they finished second of their group behind the Netherlands, but ahead of Germany, who was supposed to be relegated, but after changes on the format, stayed in League A. France won the Nations League on the 2020–21 season after winning Group A3, beating Belgium in the semi-finals and beating Spain in the final, making France the first ever European nation to win the World Cup, the European Championship and the Nations League.

UEFA Nations League record

UEFA Nations League record
Season** Division Group Pld W D* L GF GA P/R Rank
Portugal 2018–19 A 1 4 2 1 1 4 4 Same position 6th
Italy 2020–21 A 3 8 7 1 0 17 8 Same position 1st
Netherlands 2022–23 A 1 6 1 2 3 5 7 Same position 12th
Total 18 10 4 4 26 19 1 Title
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
**Group stage played home and away. Flag shown represents host nation for the finals stage. Red border colour indicates the finals stage was held on home soil.

List of matches

Season Round Opponent Score Result Venue France scorers
Europe Portugal 2018–19 Group stage
 Germany 0–0 D Munich —
 Netherlands 2–1 W Saint-Denis Mbappé, Giroud
 Germany 2–1 W Saint-Denis Griezmann (2)
 Netherlands 0–2 L Rotterdam —
Europe Italy 2020–21 Group stage
 Sweden 1–0 W Solna Mbappé
 Croatia 4–2 W Saint-Denis Griezmann, Livaković (o.g.), Upamecano, Giroud
 Portugal 0–0 D Saint-Denis —
 Croatia 2–1 W Zagreb Griezmann, Mbappé
 Portugal 1–0 W Lisbon Kanté
 Sweden 4–2 W Saint-Denis Giroud (2), Pavard, Coman
Semi-final  Belgium 3–2 W Turin Benzema, Mbappé, T. Hernandez
Final  Spain 2–1 W Milan Benzema, Mbappé
Europe Netherlands 2022–23 Group stage
 Denmark 1–2 L Saint-Denis Benzema
 Croatia 1–1 D Split Rabiot
 Austria 1–1 D Vienna Mbappé
 Croatia 0–1 L Saint-Denis —
 Austria 2–0 W Saint-Denis Mbappé, Giroud
 Denmark 0–2 L Copenhagen —

2018–19 UEFA Nations League

Group stage

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification[a] Netherlands France Germany
1  Netherlands 4 2 1 1 8 4 +4 7[b] Qualification for Nations League Finals — 2–0 3–0
2  France 4 2 1 1 4 4 0 7[b] 2–1 — 2–1
3  Germany 4 0 2 2 3 7 −4 2 2–2 0–0 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, no teams were eventually relegated.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head goal difference: Netherlands +1, France −1.
Germany 0–0 France
Report
Allianz Arena, Munich
Attendance: 67,485[1]
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
France 2–1 Netherlands
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 76,452[1]
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
France 2–1 Germany
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 77,300[1]
Referee: Milorad Mažić (Serbia)
Netherlands 2–0 France
 Report
De Kuip, Rotterdam
Attendance: 44,366[1]
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

Group stage

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation France Portugal Croatia Sweden
1  France 6 5 1 0 12 5 +7 16 Qualification for Nations League Finals — 0–0 4–2 4–2
2  Portugal 6 4 1 1 12 4 +8 13 0–1 — 4–1 3–0
3  Croatia 6 1 0 5 9 16 −7 3[a] 1–2 2–3 — 2–1
4  Sweden (R) 6 1 0 5 5 13 −8 3[a] Relegation to League B 0–1 0–2 2–1 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.
Sweden 0–1 France
Report
Friends Arena, Solna
Attendance: 0
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
France 4–2 Croatia
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 0
Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (Romania)
France 0–0 Portugal
Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 1,000[2]
Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain)
Croatia 1–2 France
 Report
Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 7,000[3]
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Portugal 0–1 France
Report
Estádio da Luz, Lisbon
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany)
France 4–2 Sweden
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 0[4]
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

Finals

France qualified for its first appearance to the UEFA Nations League Finals in the 2020–21 season, after defeating Portugal on 14 November 2020.[5]

Semi-finals

Belgium 2–3 France
 Report
Juventus Stadium, Turin
Attendance: 12,409[6]
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)

Final

Main article: 2021 UEFA Nations League Final
Spain 1–2 France
 Report
San Siro, Milan
Attendance: 31,511[7]
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

2022–23 UEFA Nations League

Group stage

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation Croatia Denmark France Austria
1  Croatia 6 4 1 1 8 6 +2 13 Qualification for Nations League Finals — 2–1 1–1 0–3
2  Denmark 6 4 0 2 9 5 +4 12 0–1 — 2–0 2–0
3  France 6 1 2 3 5 7 −2 5 0–1 1–2 — 2–0
4  Austria (R) 6 1 1 4 6 10 −4 4 Relegation to League B 1–3 1–2 1–1 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(R) Relegated
France 1–2 Denmark
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 75,833[8]
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Croatia 1–1 France
 Report
Stadion Poljud, Split
Attendance: 30,000[9]
Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)
Austria 1–1 France
 Report
Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
Attendance: 44,800[10]
Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece)
France 0–1 Croatia
Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 77,410[11]
Referee: Orel Grinfeld (Israel)
France 2–0 Austria
 Report
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Attendance: 70,188[12]
Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
Denmark 2–0 France
 Report
Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
Attendance: 36,064[13]
Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

Goalscorers

Player Goals 2018–19 2020–21 2022–23
Kylian Mbappé 7 1 4 2
Olivier Giroud 5 1 3 1
Antoine Griezmann 4 2 2
Karim Benzema 3 2 1
Kingsley Coman 1 1
Théo Hernandez 1 1
N'Golo Kanté 1 1
Benjamin Pavard 1 1
Adrien Rabiot 1 1
Dayot Upamecano 1 1
Own goals 1 1
Total 26 4 17 5

Bold players are still active with the national team.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Summary UEFA Nations League A – Group 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  2. ^ "France vs. Portugal". ESPN. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Croatia vs France, 14 October 2020". eu-football.info. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  4. ^ "France vs. Sweden" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Portugal 0–1 France-". UEFA.com. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Full Time Report – Semi-finals – Belgium v France" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Full Time Report – Final – Spain v France" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  8. ^ "France vs. Denmark" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Croatia vs. France" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Austria vs. France" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  11. ^ "France vs. Croatia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  12. ^ "France vs. Austria" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Denmark vs. France" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.

External links

France national football team
Categories