The Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland will be Italy’s group opponents in the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League. The draw to decide these groups took place today at the Beurs van Berlage Conference Centre in Amsterdam, with FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, FIGC Secretary General Marco Brunelli, Head Coach Roberto Mancini and National Team Delegation Chief Gianluca Vialli all present at the draw.

The Azzurri were drawn into Group 1 of League A, with the second edition of the tournament expanded from twelve to 16 nations, all divided into four groups of four teams. The six home and away matches will be played between 3 September and 17 November 2020, with the winners of each group qualifying for the semi-finals in June 2021.

Placed in Pot 2 of the draw, Italy were matched with the Netherlands from Pot 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina from Pot 3 and Poland from Pot 4. In their 21 previous encounters with the Netherlands, the Azzurri have won nine, drawn nine and lost just three. Their record against Poland is also a positive one (six wins, seven draws and three defeats), with the two sides having met in the first edition of the Nations League (a 1-1 draw in Bologna and a 1-0 win in Chorzow). Italy have only played Bosnia and Herzegovina on three occasions (two wins and one loss), with the two wins coming in the EURO 2020 qualifiers (2-1 in Turin and 3-0 in Zenica).

Roberto Mancini commented on the draw: “I’m satisfied, but I would have been satisfied even if we’d have got other teams. All of the possible opponents were quite strong, it’s a good group, although we’ll have to do our analysis after the European Championship because players and coaches can change between now and the start of the Nations League.”

In the first edition of the Nations League, won by Portugal after a 1-0 win in the final against the Netherlands, Roberto Mancini’s National Team finished second in their group ahead of Poland and behind Portugal. But the Azzurri will have high hopes for this upcoming edition, going into the European Championship off the back of a record-breaking ten wins out of ten in the qualifiers.

Our Coach underlined: “Now we have to focus on the Euros, then we’ll start thinking about the Nations League. We’ll play to win it, looking to use youngsters who could be useful for us in the future.” Gianluca Vialli also sees EURO 2020 as a useful way of judging our opponents’ true value: “It’s complicated to analyse these teams now because there’s a European Championship in between. They’re certainly all teams of a certain prestige, especially the Netherlands.”

LEAGUE A

Group A1: Netherlands, ITALY, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland
Group A2: England, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland
Group A3: Portugal (holders), France, Sweden, Croatia
Group A4: Switzerland, Spain, Ukraine, Germany

2020/21 Nations League calendar

Matchday 1: 3–5 September 2020
Matchday 2: 6–8 September 2020
Matchday 3: 8–10 October 2020
Matchday 4: 11–13 October 2020
Matchday 5: 12–14 November 2020
Matchday 6: 15–17 November 2020
Finals: 2/3 & 6 June 2021 (venue tbc)
Relegation play-offs: 24/25 & 28/29 March 2022

Click here for the explanatory video on the tournament's format.