Uefa, the governing body for European football, have confirmed that an inaugural Women’s Nations League will commence in Autumn 2023 in the build-up to the European Championships in 2025.
The Women’s Nations League, which will arrive five years after the competition was initially introduced to the men’s schedule, is set to replace friendlies in a bid to make the international breaks more interesting by making each fixture competitive.
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"Off the back of a historic Women's Euros, it's now time to further develop women's national team football," said Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.
"We have built an open, competitive, and continuous system in which every match will matter, a true reflection of the European sports model.
"I am convinced that this format will help all European national associations and keep the dream of qualifying for a major international tournament alive."
The Women's Nations League will see countries placed into leagues of three or four teams based on ranking. These teams will go head-to-head with each other, facing one another home and away.
Like the men’s format, there will be promotion and relegation between the three tiers and the winners of the four top-tier groups contesting the Nations League finals.
The competition will link into qualification for both the 2025 European Championship and the 2027 World Cup, with a country's Nations League rank determining a team's starting league position in the qualifiers.
The European qualifiers, which begin in Spring 2024, will determine qualification for the European Championships and a team's starting league position in the following Nations League campaign.
Every four years, the Nations League finals will also determine which three European sides qualify for the Olympic Games. For 2024, Olympic hosts France will be joined by the two Nations League finalists or third-placed team if France reach the final.
This announcement follows England boss announcing her latest squad for the upcoming international break. The Lionesses will face Japan (11 November) and Norway (15 November) in Murcia, Spain as part of their preparations for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
