2024–25 UEFA Nations League C
International football competition
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The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League C was the third division of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.
Kosovo
North Macedonia
Northern Ireland
Romania
Sweden
Azerbaijan
Lithuania| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 5 September – 19 November 2024 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Promoted | Kosovo North Macedonia Northern Ireland Romania Sweden |
| Relegated | Azerbaijan Lithuania |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 48 |
| Goals scored | 115 (2.4 per match)[note 1] |
| Attendance | 491,869 (10,247 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Viktor Gyökeres (9 goals) |
← 2022–23 2026–27 → | |
Format
League C consisted of 16 UEFA members ranked from 33–48 in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League access list, split into four groups of four. Each team played six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in September, October, and November 2024.[1] The winners of each group were promoted to the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League B, and the two worst-ranked fourth-placed teams were relegated to the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League D. In addition, the second-placed teams of each group and the two best-ranked fourth-placed teams advanced to the promotion/relegation play-offs, played home-and-away over two legs. The League C second-placed teams participated in promotion play-offs against the third-placed teams from League B in March 2025, while the two best-ranked League C fourth-placed teams will participate in relegation play-offs against the second-placed teams from League D in March 2026. In the play-offs, teams from the higher leagues will host the second leg, with the winners of each tie participating in the higher league for the next Nations League season, while the losers will enter the lower league.[2]
Teams
Team changes
The following were the team changes in League C from the 2022–23 season:
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On 2 May 2022, Russia were suspended and automatically relegated from League B due to their country's invasion of Ukraine.[3] Russia were due to participate in League C for the 2024–25 season, but they were instead banned from the Nations League because the suspension was still active at the time of UEFA's entry deadline. Therefore, only one team (Gibraltar) was relegated to League D and two teams (Estonia and Latvia) were promoted from League D, so that the 2024–25 League C season would still have 16 teams.[4]
Seeding
In the 2024–25 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2022–23 Nations League overall ranking.[5] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed on 2 December 2023,[4] and were based on the access list ranking.[2]
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- The identity of the play-out winners was not known at the time of the draw.
The draw for the league phase took place at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris, France, on 8 February 2024, 18:00 CET.[6][7] Each group contained one team from each pot. For political reasons, Armenia and Azerbaijan (due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) could not be drawn in the same group.
Groups
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 9 February 2024, the day following the draw.[8][9][10]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 2] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group 1
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation | |
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| 1 | Sweden (P) |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | +15 | 16 | Promotion to League B | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | 6–0 | |
| 2 | Slovakia |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 13 | Qualification for promotion play-offs | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | |
| 3 | Estonia |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | ||
| 4 | Azerbaijan (R) |
6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 | Relegation to League D | 1–3 | 1–3 | 0–0 | — |
| Estonia | 3–1 | Azerbaijan |
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| Azerbaijan | 0–0 | Estonia |
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| Sweden | 6–0 | Azerbaijan |
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Group 2
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation | |
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| 1 | Romania (P) |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3 | +15 | 18 | Promotion to League B | — | 3–0[a] | 4–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Kosovo (O, P) |
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 12 | Qualification for promotion play-offs | 0–3 | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | |
| 3 | Cyprus |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 15 | −11 | 6 | 0–3 | 0–4 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Lithuania (R) |
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 0 | Relegation to League D | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | — |
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
| Lithuania | 1–2 | Kosovo |
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| Kosovo | 3–0 | Cyprus |
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Group 3
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Ireland (P) |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 11 | Promotion to League B | — | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Bulgaria |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 9 | Qualification for promotion play-offs | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | |
| 3 | Belarus |
6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 7 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 4 | Luxembourg (O) |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 | Qualification for relegation play-offs | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — |
| Luxembourg | 0–1 | Belarus |
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| Report | Gromyko  76' |
| Bulgaria | 1–0 | Northern Ireland |
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| Despodov 40' |
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| Bulgaria | 0–0 | Luxembourg |
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| Belarus | 1–1 | Luxembourg |
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| Luxembourg | 0–1 | Bulgaria |
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| Northern Ireland | 2–0 | Belarus |
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Group 4
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation | |
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| 1 | North Macedonia (P) |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 16 | Promotion to League B | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Armenia |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 7 | Qualification for promotion play-offs | 0–2 | — | 0–1 | 4–1 | |
| 3 | Faroe Islands |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 6 | 1–1 | 2–2 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 4 | Latvia (O) |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 4 | Qualification for relegation play-offs | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | — |
| Armenia | 4–1 | Latvia |
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| Latvia | 1–0 | Faroe Islands |
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| Faroe Islands | 2–2 | Armenia |
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| Faroe Islands | 1–1 | Latvia |
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| North Macedonia | 1–0 | Latvia |
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| North Macedonia | 1–0 | Faroe Islands |
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Ranking of fourth-placed teams
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C4 | Latvia |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 4 | Qualification for relegation play-offs |
| 2 | C3 | Luxembourg |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 | |
| 3 | C1 | Azerbaijan (R) |
6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 | Relegation to League D |
| 4 | C2 | Lithuania (R) |
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 0 |
Goalscorers
There were 115 goals scored in 48 matches, for an average of 2.4 goals per match.[note 1]
9 goals
6 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Vahan Bichakhchyan- Gor Manvelyan
- Artur Miranyan
Renat Dadashov
Valery Gromyko- Yury Kavalyow
- Sergei Politevich
Kiril Despodov- Andrian Kraev
- Vasil Panayotov
Grigoris Kastanos- Marinos Tzionis
Rocco Robert Shein- Vlasiy Sinyavskiy
- Ioan Yakovlev
Jann Benjaminsen- Jóannes Bjartalíð
- Hanus Sørensen
Lumbardh Dellova- Muharrem Jashari
- Albion Rrahmani
- Amir Rrahmani
- Emir Sahiti
- Edon Zhegrova
Dario Šits- Roberts Uldriķis
- Renārs Varslavāns
Gvidas Gineitis- Paulius Golubickas
Seid Korać
Isnik Alimi- Jani Atanasov
- Elif Elmas
- Lirim Qamili
- Nikola Serafimov
Conor Bradley- Dion Charles
- Josh Magennis
- Paddy McNair
Daniel Bîrligea- Florinel Coman
- Radu Drăgușin
- Valentin Mihăilă
- Alexandru Mitriță
Ondrej Duda- Dávid Ďuriš
- Dávid Hancko
- Lukáš Haraslín
- Tomáš Suslov
Yasin Ayari- Ken Sema
1 own goal
- Georgy Arutyunyan (against Latvia)
- Rahil Mammadov (against Slovakia)
- Dimitar Mitov (against Northern Ireland)
- Kaspars Dubra (against Armenia)
Overall ranking
Following the league phase, the 16 League C teams were ordered 33rd to 48th in an interim overall ranking for the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[2][62]
- The teams finishing first in the groups were ranked 33rd to 36th according to the results of the league phase.
- The teams finishing second in the groups were ranked 37th to 40th according to the results of the league phase.
- The teams finishing third in the groups were ranked 41st to 44th according to the results of the league phase.
- The teams finishing fourth in the groups were ranked 45th to 48th according to the results of the league phase.
| Rnk | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | C2 | Romania |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3 | +15 | 18 |
| 34 | C1 | Sweden |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | +15 | 16 |
| 35 | C4 | North Macedonia |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 16 |
| 36 | C3 | Northern Ireland |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 11 |
| 37 | C1 | Slovakia |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 13 |
| 38 | C2 | Kosovo |
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 12 |
| 39 | C3 | Bulgaria |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 9 |
| 40 | C4 | Armenia |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 7 |
| 41 | C3 | Belarus |
6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 7 |
| 42 | C4 | Faroe Islands |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 6 |
| 43 | C2 | Cyprus |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 15 | −11 | 6 |
| 44 | C1 | Estonia |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 4 |
| 45 | C4 | Latvia |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 4 |
| 46 | C3 | Luxembourg |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 |
| 47 | C1 | Azerbaijan |
6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 1 |
| 48 | C2 | Lithuania |
6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 | −7 | 0 |
A final overall ranking was also compiled, though this was only used to rank teams within their new leagues for the following edition of the competition.[2]
Notes
- The goal tally takes into account the original result of fixtures that were subsequently forfeited, not the awarded scoreline.
- The Romania v Kosovo match was suspended at 0–0 during second-half stoppage time, after Romanian supporters allegedly began chanting pro-Serbian and anti-Kosovo slogans. The Kosovo team left the pitch, with the match abandoned thereafter.[23] On 20 November 2024, UEFA announced that Kosovo was deemed to have forfeited the match, which was therefore awarded as a 3–0 win for Romania.[24] The Football Federation of Kosovo subsequently appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,[34] which was dismissed by CAS on 5 May 2025.[35]
- Due to the Belarusian involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarus were required to play their home matches at neutral venues, and behind closed doors, until further notice.[39]