Women's Nations League: Groups, fixture dates and how it works with Olympics places at stake
- Published
England's last meeting with Scotland came at the 2019 World Cup in France with the Lionesses winning 2-1
England return to action this week for the first time since losing the Women's World Cup final when they take on Scotland on Friday.
It will be the first round of matches in the inaugural Women's Nations League, which will see all the home nations involved.
Wales will travel to Iceland for their opening game on Friday and Northern Ireland visit Dublin to take on the Republic of Ireland the following day.
But how does the new competition work? Here is everything you need to know.
What is the format?
The three-league tournament follows a similar format to the men's event. Teams have been divided into the leagues based on Uefa's coefficient rankings.
England, Scotland and Wales are in League A, which has four groups made up of teams ranked one to 16.
The teams play each other home and away from September to December, with the standings at the end of the stage determining promotion and relegation between the leagues, as well as qualification for the Women's Nations League finals.
World Cup runners-up England are in Group A1, along with Scotland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Wales are in Group A3 alongside Germany, who are ranked sixth in the world, plus Denmark and Iceland, while world champions Spain are in the same group as world number two side Sweden.
League B features Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the same group, along with Hungary and Albania. The teams are ranked between 17 and 32.
League C has five groups, made up of teams ranked 32 and below.
What is at stake?
The four group winners in League A meet in the semi-finals, with the two finalists joining hosts France as the European representatives in the 2024 Olympic Games.
If France are among the finalists, the third-placed team fills the remaining slot for the 12-team tournament in Paris.
England are the nominated nation to secure qualification for the Olympics on behalf of Team GB, but they could be held back in their group by Scotland, who have a chance to take points off their rivals and spoil their Paris dream.
The Nations League will also affect qualification for Euro 2025, which will be held in Switzerland.
The teams that finish in the top two in each group will remain in League A for the European qualifiers, which start in spring 2024 and follow the same format as the Nations League.
The four third-placed teams in League A face a play-off against the second-placed teams in League B in February, with the winner playing in League A for the Euro 2025 qualifiers.
The fourth-placed teams are relegated to League B, replaced by the group winners from that league.
When are the Women's Nations League games played?
Matchday one: 21-23 September
Matchday two: 26 September
Matchday three: 25-27 October
Matchday four: 31 October
Matchday five: 30 November-1 December
Matchday six: 5 December
How do the finals in the Nations League work?
A draw will decide the semi-final ties between the group winners from League A, as well as the home team in each of the matches.
The matches, which will take place between 21 and 28 February 2024, will be played as single-leg games, with two semi-finals, a third-place play-off and a final.