English Section

Football: Poland to play Croatia in Nations League on Sunday

06.09.2024 22:30
Poland’s national football team is gearing up to play Croatia in Osijek on Sunday in its second match of the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League.
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski.
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski.Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Poland opened its campaign on Thursday, beating Scotland 3-2 in Glasgow, following goals from Sebastian Szymański, Robert Lewandowski and Nicola Zalewski.

Poland players stand together before kickoff at Glasgow's Hampden Park on Thursday night. Poland players stand together before kickoff at Glasgow's Hampden Park on Thursday night. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Croatia, meanwhile, lost their opening Nations League game 1-2 away to Portugal.

The Poles, captained by star striker Robert Lewandowski, are hoping for another win as they consolidate the team ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in March next year.

Poland boss Michał Probierz and captain Robert Lewandowski during a press conference in Warsaw on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. Poland boss Michał Probierz and captain Robert Lewandowski during a press conference in Warsaw on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Poland are ranked 28th worldwide by football's governing body FIFA, while Croatia are No. 12 in the FIFA table.

The match kicks off at 8:45 p.m. Warsaw time.

Michał Probierz's men have been drawn to play Scotland, Croatia and Portugal in the group stage of the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League.

The four teams will play one another at home and away in Group 1 of the top League A from September to November.

The Nations League is UEFA’s newest national-team competition that is now in its fourth edition.

The European football governing body says the 2024/2025 edition of the competition has been expanded with a new knockout round to be played in March 2025.

The League A group winners and runners-up will participate in home-and-away quarterfinals, with the winners of these ties qualifying for the final tournament in June 2025, according to the uefa.com website.

Meanwhile, the fourth-placed teams in League A will be automatically relegated to League B.

The competition's semifinals will take place on June 4 and 5, 2025. The winners will advance to the final on June 8, while the two beaten semifinalists will contest the match for third place earlier the same day.

The Nations League is designed to enable teams to play against those that are similarly ranked, while reducing the number of meaningless friendlies, UEFA said.

Portugal won the first edition of the Nations League in 2019, while France won the 2020/2021 UEFA Nations League, and Spain triumphed in the 2022/2023 edition.

2024/2025 UEFA Nations League

League A

Group A1: Croatia, Portugal, Poland, Scotland
Group A2: Italy, Belgium, France, Israel
Group A3: Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group A4: Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia

Poland in June suffered an early exit from the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany, after losing its first two group-stage matches against the Netherlands and Austria and drawing 1-1 with France in its final game.

Poland finished last in their Group D and failed to advance to the knockout stage of the continental championships, with just one point from three group-stage games.

Scotland and Croatia were also eliminated from the Euro 2024 tournament after the group stage. Portugal, meanwhile, were knocked out in the quarterfinals by France.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, pzpn.pl, uefa.com/uefa.com