who are Portugal’s three possible opponents in the Nations League quarter-finals – Observer

After all, everything was as expected in theory. With Denmark’s draw in Serbia, which allowed the Danes to hold on to second place in group A4 of the Nations League, Portugal met the three possible opponents in the quarterfinals of the competition after securing first place in group A1 with the rout against Poland in Dragon. In parallel, all favorites “fulfilled” what seemed destined since the draw: in addition to the National Team, France, Germany and Spain managed to confirm the leadership of their respective groups, with Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark coming in second.

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On the Portuguese side, Roberto Martínez’s men have three possible opponents in the quarterfinals: Italy, who seemed to be taking recovery steps in a group containing France and Belgium but ended up giving in the decision at San Siro against the Gauls, showing the least successful moment at this stage of the Luciano Spalletti era; you Netherlands Ronald Koeman, an opponent against whom Portugal has won every game in the final stages of international competitions (and the last triumph was in the 2019 Nations League final, in Porto); and the Denmark by Morten Hjulmand and Alexander Bah, a formation that is always competitive but is going through a moment of less brilliance in individual terms at this stage, which is “disguised” by the collective.

The draw will take place next Friday, with the two Wednesday meetings scheduled for March 20 and 23, 2025. There, the pairings for the Final Four of the event will also be defined (which does not yet have a location for it). In parallel, the eight classified will find out their “luck” in the Nations League but only in March will they know their qualifying group for the World Cup. Why? Because all those classified will only know their opponents in March, considering that the first round of this qualifying phase for the 2026 World Cup will take place at the same time as the Nations League Final Four, with those classified having to enter a group with only four teams for that reason.

Group A1

• 1.º (classified for the quarterfinals): Portugal, 14 points (4 wins and 2 draws)
• 2.º (qualified for the quarters): Croatia, 8 points (2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses)
• 3.º (playoff stay/descent): Scotland, 7 points (2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses)
• 4.º (relegated to League B): Poland, 4 points (1 win, 1 draw and 4 losses)

Group A2

• 1.º (qualified for the quarters): France, 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss)
• 2.º (qualified for the quarters): Italy, 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss)
• 3.º (playoff stay/descent): Belgium, 4 points (1 win, 1 draw and 4 losses)
• 4.º (relegated to League B): Israel, 4 points (1 win, 1 draw and 4 losses)

Group A3 *

• 1.º (qualified for the quarters): Germany, 13 points (4 wins and 1 draw)
• 2.º (qualified for the quarters): Netherlands, 8 points (2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss)
• 3.º (playoff stay/descent): Hungary, 5 points (1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses)
• 4.º (relegated to League B): Bosnia, 1 point (1 draw and 4 losses)

* one less game

Group A4

• 1.º (qualified for the quarters): Spain, 16 points (5 wins and 1 draw)
• 2.º (qualified for the quarters): Denmark, 8 points (2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses)
• 3.º (playoff stay/descent): Serbia, 5 points (1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses)
• 4.º (relegated to League B): Switzerland, 2 points (2 draws and 4 losses)