Nations League matchday 2 preview: France go to Belgium, Spain host Croatia, and England travel to Czechia

Matchday 2 follows straight on from matchday 1, so every side plays its second match between Sunday and Tuesday, three days after its first. The fixture with the longest shadow is Belgium v France on Monday evening: France have won the last five meetings, among them the 2018 World Cup semi-final, the 2021 Nations League semi-final and the Euro 2024 round of 16, and they took both group matches in the 2024 edition of this competition. Tuesday closes the round with Spain at home to Croatia, a pairing that has produced the 2023 Nations League final, a 5–3 after extra time at Euro 2020 and a 6–0 in 2018, and with England away to Czechia, who beat them in Prague in 2019.

Sunday

Lithuania v Azerbaijan (13:00 UTC). League D, Group 2, and the first match of the round. The only meeting on record is a goalless friendly in March 2019.

Serbia v Netherlands (16:00 UTC). League A, Group 2. Serbia and the Netherlands have no previous meeting on record, so this is a first.

Denmark v Wales (16:00 UTC). League A, Group 4. Denmark have won all three meetings since 2018: 2–0 at home and 2–1 in Cardiff in the 2018 Nations League, then 4–0 in the Euro 2020 round of 16 in June 2021.

Austria v Kosovo (16:00 UTC). League B, Group 3. No previous meeting on record.

Gibraltar v Andorra (16:00 UTC). League D, Group 1. Gibraltar's first match of the campaign, after sitting out matchday 1 in a three-team group. They have won the last two meetings 1–0, in November 2022 and September 2024, after a 0–0 in June 2021.

Germany v Greece (18:45 UTC). The other League A, Group 2 match. Germany beat Greece 2–1 in a friendly in June 2024; the meeting before that was the Euro 2012 quarter-final, which Germany won 4–2.

Norway v Portugal (18:45 UTC). League A, Group 4. No previous meeting between Norway and Portugal on record.

Israel v Republic of Ireland (18:45 UTC). League B, Group 3. A first meeting on record, closing Sunday.

Monday

Georgia v Ukraine (16:00 UTC). League B, Group 2. They shared a group in the 2024 Nations League: Ukraine 1–0 in Poznań in October, then 1–1 in Batumi in November.

Armenia v Montenegro (16:00 UTC). League C, Group 2. The last meeting was a 2–2 friendly in June 2025; Armenia won 1–0 in March 2022.

Latvia v Cyprus (16:00 UTC). The other League C, Group 2 match. One meeting on record, a 1–1 friendly in March 2024.

Belgium v France (18:45 UTC). League A, Group 1. France 1–0 in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, 3–2 in the 2021 Nations League semi-final, 1–0 in the Euro 2024 round of 16, then 2–0 at home and 2–1 in Brussels in the 2024 Nations League group. Belgium have not beaten France in any of those five.

Türkiye v Italy (18:45 UTC). The other Group 1 match. Italy have not lost to Türkiye in the last three: 3–0 in the opening match of Euro 2020 in June 2021, 3–2 in a friendly in Konya in March 2022 and 0–0 in a friendly in June 2024.

Northern Ireland v Hungary (18:45 UTC). League B, Group 2. Hungary won the only recent meeting, a 1–0 friendly in Belfast in March 2022.

Sweden v Poland (18:45 UTC). League B, Group 4. The freshest rivalry of the round: Sweden beat Poland 3–2 in the World Cup play-off final on 31 March this year, after Poland had won the equivalent play-off 2–0 in March 2022. Sweden also won 3–2 in the Euro 2020 group in June 2021.

Romania v Bosnia and Herzegovina (18:45 UTC). Same group. Bosnia won both World Cup qualifiers last season, 1–0 in Bucharest in March 2025 and 3–1 at home in November; in the 2022 Nations League it was Bosnia 1–0 and then Romania 4–1.

Tuesday

Finland v Belarus (16:00 UTC). League C, Group 1. The only meeting on record is a 2–0 friendly for Finland in June 2018.

Moldova v Faroe Islands (16:00 UTC). League C, Group 3. Four meetings since 2021, two draws and a win each: the Faroes 2–1 at home in September 2021, Moldova 1–0 in Tórshavn in September 2023, and 1–1 in Chișinău both times.

Spain v Croatia (18:45 UTC). League A, Group 3. Spain 3–0 in the Euro 2024 group in June 2024; 0–0 and a penalty shoot-out won by Spain in the 2023 Nations League final; Spain 5–3 after extra time in the Euro 2020 round of 16. Croatia's last win was 3–2 in Zagreb in November 2018, two months after losing 6–0 in Elche.

Czechia v England (18:45 UTC). The other Group 3 match. England 5–0 at Wembley in March 2019, Czechia 2–1 in Prague that October, England 1–0 at Wembley in the Euro 2020 group in June 2021.

San Marino v Albania (18:45 UTC). League C, Group 1. Albania won both World Cup qualifiers in 2021, 2–0 away in March and 5–0 at home in September.

Slovakia v Kazakhstan (18:45 UTC). League C, Group 3. Kazakhstan won both meetings in the 2022 Nations League, 1–0 in Trnava and 2–1 at home, a week apart in June.

Bulgaria v Estonia (18:45 UTC). League C, Group 4. No previous meeting on record.

Luxembourg v Iceland (18:45 UTC). The other League C, Group 4 match. Luxembourg won 3–1 at home in September 2023 in Euro 2024 qualifying, and drew 1–1 in Reykjavík a month later.

Scotland v Switzerland (18:45 UTC). League B, Group 1. The last meeting was 1–1 in the Euro 2024 group in Cologne in June 2024.

Slovenia v North Macedonia (18:45 UTC). The other Group 1 match in League B, closing the round. Three meetings since 2019 and Slovenia have not won any: 1–1 in Ljubljana in March 2019, North Macedonia 2–1 in Skopje that October and 1–1 in a friendly in June 2021.

The format

Four tiers, A to D. Leagues A, B and C have four groups of four; League D has two groups of three. Each side plays the others in its group home and away, over six matchdays: 24–26 September, 27–29 September, 1–3 October, 4–6 October, 12–14 November and 15–17 November.

The League A groups: France, Italy, Belgium and Türkiye in Group 1; Germany, Netherlands, Serbia and Greece in Group 2; Spain, Croatia, England and Czechia in Group 3; Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Wales in Group 4.

Numbers to know

• Twenty-six matches: eight on Sunday, eight on Monday, ten on Tuesday. One kicks off at 13:00 UTC, nine at 16:00 and sixteen at 18:45.
• Fifty-two of the 54 teams play. Malta and Liechtenstein, in the three-team League D groups, sit out matchday 2 after playing on Thursday.
• France have won the last five meetings with Belgium, three of them in knockout ties: a World Cup semi-final, a Nations League semi-final and a European Championship round of 16.
• Spain have come through the last three meetings with Croatia, one on penalties, one after extra time and one 3–0 inside ninety minutes.
• Sweden and Poland have met three times since 2021 and the score was 3–2 to Sweden twice; the third was Poland's 2–0 play-off win in 2022.

Matchday 3 follows on 1–3 October. The full round with kick-off times in your time zone is on the Nations League page.