The UEFA Nations League Trophy is inspired from the logo of the competition - the flag, representing all the 55 UEFA members national associations, elegantly wrapped around a flag pole. It is entirely made of sterling silver and on the inside has the colourful competition logo, thus reflecting on the silver surface. On the outside it has the same logo engraved in linear format, the logo of UEFA and the words 'UEFA Nations League'. The trophy weighs 7.5kg, is 71cm tall, was designed by the Portuguese branch of the international company Young & Rubicom Branding (Y&R) and was manufactured by the Italian company IACO Group.
UEFA, the European Football Confederation, will be organizing the UEFA Nations League, a competition which will see 54 UEFA associations members' national teams divided into a series of divisions based upon a ranking system formulated by using their recent results, where they would be promoted and relegated to other divisions according to their results within the group. The competition would take place on dates on the International match calendar that were previously allocated for international friendlies and would not affect the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship qualifications, although the competition's final placing can replace any play-offs needed for qualification for these tournaments. Russia was again banned from taking part due to their war aggression against Ukraine.
Since the 2nd Edition, UEFA reformed the format. All 55 UEFA national teams were still divided into four divisions (called Leagues), however League A, B and C was made up of 16 teams, each League divided in four groups of four teams each, whilst League D is composed of seven teams divided in two groups of four and three teams respectively. In each League all teams in each group will play against each other both home and away. These matches will be played in the September - November 2026 period.
From the 4th edition, UEFA introduced a Quarter Finals phase, by which in League A, the group winners and runners-up will advance to the quarter-finals, played home-and-away over two legs in March 2027. In each tie, a group winner will face a runner-up from a different group, with the group winner hosting the second leg. The four quarter-final winners will qualify for the Nations League Finals in June 2027, hosted in one European nation selected from the four finalists: two semi-finals, one 3/4 place final and one final to decide which team becomes the UEFA Nations League champion.
Teams will also be promoted and relegated to a higher or lower division. Each group winner in Leagues B, C, and D are automatically promoted to the next higher division for the next tournament, whilst each team placing last in its group in Leagues A, B and C will be automatically relegated to the next lower division. As part of the 4th edition's new changes, third placed nations of the higher leagues will play against the runner-ups of the lower Leagues with the result that the winner finishes in the higher league and the loser plays in the lower league. In League D, this new system only effects the Runner-ups.
Italy finished third place twice, in 2020/21 and 2022/23, and hosted the Nations League Finals once, in 2020/21.
The Azzurri used in the qualification games
