The 2024-25 edition of the Nations League begins this week, with Luciano Spalletti and his Italy national team set to take on France and Israel on Friday and Monday respectively. Here’s everything you need to know about the Azzurri and the newly expanded tournament.
Nations League groups
League A Group 1: Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Scotland
League A Group 2: Belgium, France, Israel, Italy
League A Group 3: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands
League A Group 4: Denmark, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland
League B Group 1: Albania, Czechia, Georgia, Ukraine
League B Group 2: England, Finland, Greece, Ireland
League B Group 3: Austria, Kazakhstan, Norway, Slovenia
League B Group 4: Iceland, Montenegro Türkiye, Wales
League C Group 1: Azerbaijan, Estonia, Slovakia, Sweden
League C Group 2: Cyprus, Kosovo, Lithuania, Romania
League C Group 3: Belarus, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland
League C Group 4: Armenia, Faroe Islands, Latvia, North Macedonia
League D Group 1: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino
League D Group 2: Andorra, Malta, Moldova
New Nations League format explained
The 2024-25 version of the Nations League will include one round more than it has done in recent years.
The group stages will be contested as usual, with each team facing every other nation in their group home and away between now and mid-November. The team that finishes bottom of the group will automatically be relegated into the division below.
In League A, the teams who finish first and second in their groups will compete in an additional quarter-final round in March. Those games will be played home and away, and the eventual winners of each fixture will progress to the competition’s finals in June 2025.
From there, the quarter-final winners will compete in the semis and then either the final or third-place play-off, as has been the case in previous years.
When do Italy play?
Italy will play their first fixture of the Nations League campaign away against France at the Parc des Princes on Friday, September 6, kicking off at 19.45 BST.
They will then face Israel in an away fixture on Monday, September 9, being hosted at the Bozsik Arena in Budapest Hungary. Kick-off will also be at 19.45.
Italy will then host Belgium and Israel in Rome and Udine respectively during the October international break. In November, it will be Belgium away and France at home, due to be played in San Siro.
Knockout round play-offs: 20-25 March 2025
League A quarter-finals: 20-25 March 2025
Final tournament: 4-8 June 2025
Italy squad for upcoming fixtures
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Caleb Okoli (Leicester), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham);
Midfielders: Marco Brescianini (Atalanta), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Forwards: Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).
What Spalletti said about Italy in his press conference
Everything Spalletti said during Italy press conference: ‘I will create a new team’
What do people still see in Moise Keane that makes them think he is capable of performing for Italy? The addition of Frattesi on this team is also a head scratcher. Please don’t start DiLorenzo! Whatever you do please no DiLorenzo!
Israel should be banned. Even the UK government is finally admitting that Israel is violating international law in its onslaught on civilian Palestinians. No Russia so no Israel.