From winless start to first semis: Germany at every UEFA Nations League
| Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images |
The fifth UEFA Nations League campaign will kick off tonight as Jürgen Klopp’s Germany face Xavi’s Netherlands away from home. Die Nationalmannschaft have only reached the finals of the competition only once in the previous four editions. Here is our recap of Germany’s performances so far in the UEFA Nations League.
2018/19 – Bottom of Group
Germany were initially relegated to League B of the UEFA Nations League after the inaugural tournament. However, the revised format announced at a later date meant no team from League A lost their spot.
Joachim Löw’s side started the campaign with a goalless draw at Allianz Arena with France. Defeats in the Netherlands and France ended their hopes of topping the group, which was the only ticket to the finals.
In their final game, Germany led the Netherlands with early goals from Timo Werner and Leroy Sané in Gelsenkirchen before conceding twice in the last five minutes. Netherlands went all the way to the final, where they lost to Portugal with Gonçalo Guedes scoring the only goal of the first-ever Nations League showdown.
2020/21 – 6-0 defeat to Spain in decider
In the extended format, Germany drew with Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine in Group 4. Germany started with draws before recording their first win of the competition in Kyiv. Löw’s men squandered leads in the 1-1 draws with Spain and Switzerland, including conceding a 96th-minute equalizer against the former in Stuttgart.
Matthias Ginter and Leon Goretzka scored the goals in the 2-1 win over Ukraine, which was followed by a dramatic 3-3 draw against Switzerland in Köln. Werner scored a brace as Germany entered the final matchday top of the group with another 2-1 victory against Ukraine.
However, Germany missed out on qualifying for the last four after a shambolic performance in Seville. With future World Cup final hero Ferran Torres netting a hat-trick, Spain inflicted Germany’s worst defeat in a competitive game (6-0). Once again, the winners of Germany’s group failed in the last hurdle as France beat Spain 2-1 in a memorable final.
2022/23 – One win from six
Like the previous two campaigns, Germany’s campaign started with a draw as Joshua Kimmich scored the equalizer away at the then-European champions Italy. Hansi Flick’s side also finished the next two games against England and Hungary by the same scoreline (1-1), with Jonas Hofmann on target on both occasions.
Werner added another brace as Germany scored five against Italy in Mönchengladbach. Kai Havertz also scored twice in the last matchday against England, but the shocking defeat to Hungary in Leipzig already damaged their chances of progressing from the group stage for the first time.
Germany scored the most goals in the group, but four of their games ended in draws as they finished behind Italy and Hungary as bottom-placed England getting relegated to League B.
2024/25 – Semi-final defeat at home
With a quarter-final round introduced in the fourth edition of the competition, Germany finally progressed from the group stage. In an unbeaten campaign, Julian Nagelsmann’s troops scored three goals per game on average.
They also won the opening game of the Nations League for the first time with a 5-0 victory over Hungary. At Johan Cruyff Arena, a stadium that will host tonight’s fixture, Germany drew 2-2 with the Netherlands, with all four goals scored in the first 50 minutes.
Deniz Undav, who is a surprise omission from Klopp’s first Germany squad, scored twice in the space of six minutes when they beat Bosnia and Herzegovina before fellow Stuttgart attacker Jamie Leweling, who is also omitted by the new Bundestrainer, grabbed the only goal of the game in Munich against Netherlands.
Germany ended the group stage with a draw in Hungary three days after recording their biggest Nations League win over Edin Džeko’s Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tim Kleindienst’s first two goals in Germany colours helped Nagelsmann’s men to a 7-0 victory in Freiburg.
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s striker also found the net in both legs against Italy in the quarter-finals. Despite a late scare in Dortmund, where Italy denied Germany a place in the World Cup final in 2006, Die Nationalmannschaft qualified for the semi-final with a 5-4 aggregate scoreline.
Germany were appointed as the hosts of the final four games by UEFA, but they lost to Portugal and France in the semi-final and third-place playoff, respectively. Cristiano Ronaldo scored in both the semis and final as Portugal became the first national team to win the competition twice.
