The 2024/2025 Nations League Group A and Group B draw ahead of the draw in Paris Source: TASR/AP/Christophe Ena
PARIS – The Slovak national football team will meet Sweden, Azerbaijan and Estonia in the 1st group of the C-division of the League of Nations 2024/2025.
It was decided by Thursday’s draw in Paris, in which it appeared in the third performance basket of its division together with North Macedonia, Northern Ireland and Cyprus. She definitely could not come across these opponents in a group of four.
In the previous three editions of the Nations League, Slovakia appeared twice in Group B. In the past third edition (year 2022/2023), it took 3rd place in the C-division behind Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and Belarus took fourth place.
A trio of giants in a group of death
The defenders of the trophy from Spain will play in the 4th group of the strongest A-division with Denmark, Switzerland and Serbia. Croatia, the finalist of the last edition, will compete against Portugal, Poland and Scotland. Both teams figured in the first basket of the elite division. In the quality-charged 2nd group “A”, up to three giants – Italy, Belgium and France – joined by Israel, will compete against each other.
For political reasons, Armenia and Azerbaijan could not face each other in the same group. The second restriction was that, due to the great distance, Kazakhstan could not have more than one opponent in the group from the four of England, Iceland, Ireland and Wales.
The new edition of LN will start with the first round matches on 5-7. September this year, the 2nd round will take place on 8-10 September. Other dates are 10.-12. and 13.-15. October, 14-16 and 17.-19. November. The winners of the groups secure direct promotion, the teams in the last places are relegated to the lower division. The new stage of the year will be the play-off after the group stage matches have been played, in which the second-placed teams of the B-division will meet in a double-header with the third-placed teams of the A-division.
In a similar way, the teams in the third place “B” and in the second place “C” meet each other. The two teams from among the worst teams from the fourth places in the C-Division will be relegated one division lower, on the contrary, the two best teams from the D-Division will move one division higher. The remaining two teams from the fourth places of the C-division will meet in the playoffs with a pair of teams from the second places from the “deček” (the D-division has 6 teams divided into two groups of three).
Photo gallery (3) Source: TASR/AP/Christophe Ena
2024/2025 Nations League group draw:
A-division
A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland
A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel
A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina
A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia
B-division
B1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Albania, Georgia
B2: England, Finland, Ireland, Greece
B3: Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Kazakhstan
B4: Wales, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey
C-Division
C1: Sweden, Azerbaijan, SLOVAKIA, Estonia
C2: Romania, Kosovo, Cyprus, Lithuania/Gibraltar*
C3: Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Belarus
C4: Armenia, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Latvia
D-Division
D1: Lithuania/Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein
D2: Moldova, Malta, Andorra
playing dates:
Round 1: 5-7 September 2024
2nd round: 8-10 September 2024
3rd round: 10.-12. October 2024
4th round: 13.-15. October 2024
5th round: 14.-16. November 2024
6th round: 17.-19. November 2024
quarter-finals of the A-division and play-offs of the BD division – 1st matches: 20.-22. March 2025
quarter-finals of the A-division and play-offs of the BD division – rematches: 23.-25. March 2025
final tournament: 4.-8. June 2025
Business cards of Slovak opponents:
SWEDEN
governing body: Swedish Football Association (SvFF)
coach: Daniel Bäckström (temporary)
captain: Victor Lindelöf
most international matches: Anders Svensson (148)
most national team goals: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (62)
FIFA ranking (as of December 21, 2023): 26th place
balance of mutual matches from the perspective of SR: 7 matches (0 wins, 3 draws, 4 losses, score 2:12)
AZERBAIJAN
governing body: Azerbaijan Football Federation (AFFA)
coach:-
captain: Emin Mahmudov
most international matches: Rashad Sadygov (111)
most national team goals: Gurban Gurbanov (14)
FIFA ranking (as of December 21, 2023): 114th place
balance of mutual matches from the perspective of SR: 10 matches (8 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses, score: 21:7)
ESTONIA
governing body: Estonian Football Association (EJL)
coach: Thomas Häberli
captain: Konstantin Vassiljev
most national team matches: Martin Reim (157)
most national team goals: Andres Oper (38)
FIFA ranking (as of December 21, 2023): 122nd place
balance of mutual matches from the perspective of SR: 2 matches (2 wins, score: 3:1)
- Author: © List/
- Source: TASR
2024-02-08 17:46:17
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