Every Nations League winner so far, and what it tells England

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Spain have reached three of the four Nations League finals played so far. England have never reached one. That gap is the backdrop to the England vs Spain tie at Wembley on Saturday 26 September, which opens Group A3 and marks England’s first match back in League A under Thomas Tuchel.

Croatia and Czechia complete the group, and Croatia were the side Spain beat on penalties to win the 2023 title. Eight years after the competition launched, only three countries have their name on the trophy.

Portugal, 2018-19

Portugal were the only side to come through a League A group unbeaten in the first edition, then beat Switzerland 3-1 in the Porto semi-final, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick. The Netherlands beat England by the same score in the other tie, although they needed extra time to do it.

Goncalo Guedes settled the final at the Estadio do Dragao on the hour, running on to a cutback from Bernardo Silva for his first competitive international goal. England took third place in Guimaraes, drawing 0-0 with Switzerland and winning the shootout 6-5.

France, 2020-21

France arrived in the Milan final having come from two goals down to beat Belgium 3-2, then did something similar in the final itself. Mikel Oyarzabal put Spain ahead on 64 minutes, Karim Benzema curled in an equaliser almost immediately, and Kylian Mbappe ran through to win it 2-1 with 10 minutes left.

Spain had beaten the newly crowned European champions Italy 2-1 to get there, both goals from Ferran Torres. France had also ended Portugal’s title defence on the way through, dropping just two points in their League A group.

Spain, 2022-23

Spain needed a late Alvaro Morata goal in Braga just to get out of their group, then a late Joselu winner to see off Italy in the semi-final. Croatia had taken one point from their first two group games and then won four in a row, and they needed extra time to beat the Netherlands 4-2 in the semi-final after Noa Lang equalised in the 96th minute.

The Rotterdam final produced nothing across 120 minutes, so penalties decided it. Unai Simon saved from Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic before Dani Carvajal converted the kick that gave Spain a 5-4 win and their first international title in 11 years.

Portugal, 2024-25

Neither finalist had a straightforward route. Portugal lost the first leg of their quarter-final to Denmark 1-0 and came through 5-3 on aggregate, while Spain and the Netherlands finished 5-5 and went to penalties.

Portugal then beat hosts Germany 2-1 in Munich, Ronaldo again scoring the winner, while Spain led France 5-1 in Stuttgart and still had to survive to 5-4. The final was the best of the four. Spain went ahead twice, through Martin Zubimendi and Oyarzabal, and Portugal answered through Nuno Mendes and Ronaldo to force extra time.

At 2-2 it went to penalties, where Diogo Costa saved from Morata and Ruben Neves finished low into the corner for a 5-3 win. Portugal became the first country to win the competition twice.

What that leaves England

Portugal have two titles, France and Spain have one each, and no other country has reached a second final. Three of the four finals went beyond 90 minutes and two were settled on penalties, so the margins at the top have been thin.

The competition also gets taken seriously now in a way it did not in 2018, when it was written off as glorified friendlies, and matchdays that once passed without much notice come with their own markets and free bet offers.

England’s return from eight years of the competition is one third place, a spell down in League B and promotion back to the top tier. Spain at Wembley on the opening matchday will tell them fairly quickly how much of that gap has closed.