NOS Football•
The Dutch national team will face Germany, Serbia and Greece in group 2 of division A in the group stage of the 2026/2027 Nations League. This was determined by the draw in Brussels this evening.
The draw seems favorable on paper, avoiding Portugal, Spain and France, among others. Germany is currently tenth in the FIFA rankings, below the Netherlands (number 7).
Serbia, 39th in the world, and Greece, number 46, have also seen better times. Both countries failed to qualify for the World Cup.
The first matches will be played at the end of September, after the Football World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which starts in June. The schedule is not yet known.
The upcoming Nations League is the fifth edition of the country tournament. As in previous editions, the Dutch team is in division A, the highest division. There was also a draw today for divisions B, C and D.
Based on the results of the previous tournament, the Netherlands was ranked sixth for the draw and thus ended up in pot 2 with Italy, Denmark and Croatia. Orange could therefore not hit those countries.
Pot 1 contained the four strongest countries from the previous edition: defending champion Portugal, losing finalist Spain, number three France and number four from last year Germany.
Four times before against Germany
The Dutch team reached the quarter-finals at the previous edition, in which Spain was too strong after penalties. They were two memorable games, a 2-2 in Rotterdam and a 3-3 after extra time in Valencia.
In the first edition of the Nations League, the Netherlands reached the final under Ronald Koeman, which was lost to Portugal in 2019. France won the second edition in 2021 and Spain the third in 2023.
Germany has already been the opponent of the Dutch team in the group stage four times before. In the previous edition, the Dutch team drew 2-2 at home and lost 1-0 away. In 2018, the Netherlands won 3-0 at home and Koeman’s team secured a 2-2 draw and group win after a comeback in Gelsenkirchen.
The group stage of the Nations League will be completed next autumn. For the first time, an extended international match period is scheduled from the end of September to the beginning of October, including four international matches.
The fifth and sixth matches of the group stage will be played in mid-November. The numbers one and two from each group will go to the quarter-finals in March 2027 and the final round will be in June 2027.
date:2026-02-12 17:55:00