UEFA Nations League

5 things to look out for in the Nations League

| 12 November 2018

Spain and France are among those who could seal their qualification.

The Nations League has reached its fifth round of matches and there are a handful of sides who can seal qualification and promotion with positive results in their next games.

Among those are World champions France, while there are also a number of lower-ranked nations who are impressing in the new competition.

Here, Press Association Sport details five things to look out for in the Nations League this weekend.

Qualification

Spain's Sergio Ramos during a Nations League match (Nick Potts/PA)

Spain, Portugal and France can all qualify for the finals in June if they win in the next set of group matches.

Spain visit Croatia, a team they beat 6-0 at home, while Portugal travel to Italy. France could qualify if they beat the Netherlands in Rotterdam but the World Cup winners will be without big-name players such as Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba and Alexandre Lacazette after their withdrawals from the squad.

Kosovo in with a chance

Tonight will be a proud moment for Kosovo 🙌

Their #NationsLeague fixture vs Faroe Islands is the first official international match at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Prishtina 🇽🇰

The stadium was built with the help of UEFA's HatTrick programme 🏟️✅https://t.co/7ROrApNAtx

— UEFA (@UEFA) September 10, 2018

Having only joined UEFA in 2016, Kosovo could be promoted from Group 3 of the Nations League's League D.

Kosovo would need to beat Malta away and hope Azerbaijan fail to beat the Faroe Islands to secure their promotion.

Luxembourg surprises

Scotland against Luxembourg in UEFA European Under 21's Qualifying (Danny Lawson/PA)

Luxembourg are the joint top-scorers in the competition along with Spain, although Luxembourg have played more games.

A win at home against Belarus would also secure an unlikely promotion for Luxembourg in a group that also contains Moldova and San Marino.

Gibraltar in with a chance

More on the news of Ribas 27-man squad for this month's crunch #NationsLeague double-header #Gibraltar https://t.co/IEFWNGSrTv

📸@WilliamFGracia1 pic.twitter.com/SiXdwcKs0n

— Football Gibraltar ⚽️ (@FootballGib) November 5, 2018

One of the competition's newest nations, having only been accepted in 2016, Gibraltar remain in the mix for possible qualification from League D.

Gibraltar have beaten Liechtenstein and Armenia in their campaign so far and will be hoping for a similar result when they host the latter on Friday.

Welsh hopes

Wales head coach Ryan Giggs (right) with Ben Davies after playing the Republic of Ireland (Liam McBurney/PA)

A win for Wales against Denmark on Friday would secure their promotion to the top division of the competition, League A, and will have Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey available, despite their club struggles.

Chris Mepham and Ethan Ampadu also return to boost Wales while Ireland will be looking for wins to move them off bottom spot in the group.

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