Semi-finals in the NL – A Preview

The European Club season has now concluded and we are now in what should be the quiet weeks and months. However, this season we have the upcoming Club World Cup which will keep us occupied for a full four weeks. Prior to that though we also have a round of International fixtures with important World Cup qualification matches to be played as well as the final few matches of this NL.

We start things off with the NL matches, as the semi-finals will be played on Wednesday and Thursday with the final set to be played on Sunday evening. The final four are Germany, Portugal, Spain and France so these remaining matches should be interesting. The final itself will be played in the Allianz Arena in Munich and the third place match will take place in Stuttgart, so Germany will have home advantage no matter which match they take part in. As it happens, all three previous winners of this relatively new tournament, Portugal, France and Spain are in the final four, along with hosts Germany. The tournament was expanded to include a new knockout round taking place in March 2025, thereby creating continuity between the group phase ending in November and the finals played in June. The NL was devised to minimise meaningless friendlies and give nations competitive encounters with equally ranked teams. Teams from all the European associations compete in a league structure featuring promotion and relegation. In the first edition of the tournament, they were divided into 12 teams in League A, 12 in League B, 14 in League C and 16 in League D.

Spain will be favourites to progress against France, given the fact they are the reigning European Champions.  In the other semi-final, it is Germany who are relatively strong favourites to get the better of Portugal, with home advantage helping with this as well as their recent good record against Portugal. 

After these semi-finals, our attention will switch over to the WC qualification matches, starting on Friday. The likes of the Czech Republic, Belgium, Croatia and Italy are all in action on what should be a busy day. There are a number of matches to be played in South America too with Brazil and Argentina both playing away, in Ecuador and Chile respectively. 

On Saturday, as well as the third place NL match, the likes of England, Serbia, Austria and the Netherlands are among the teams playing. England’s fixture against Andorra should be a formality but Austria’s match against Romania, Serbia’s trip to Albania and the Netherlands match versus Finland should be more interesting. 

With no matches taking place on Sunday, the action is back on our screens on Monday when Belgium host Wales in what has the potential to be an interesting matchup. Croatia versus the Czech Republic is another interesting tie. 

The action concludes on Tuesday and Wednesday with a number of other matches played across Europe, the Netherlands being the biggest of the teams in action when they host Malta. Argentina versus Colombia is likely to be the highlight from South America. 

Germany vs Portugal

Allianz Arena, Munich, Wednesday @ 21:00

This is a meeting of the two highest scoring teams in the NL group stages, so this is likely to be an entertaining encounter, especially for the neutral supporter. The last time these two sides met it was a cracking encounter as Germany managed to win 4-2. Germany are on a five match winning streak against Portugal and this is their first appearance in the finals of the tournament. They will certainly be keen to make the most of home advantage in these final rounds of the NL. The fact that they have only lost one of their last twelve matches on German soil certainly plays into their favour. Germany’s last home defeat came in manager Julian Nagelsmann’s first match, a loss to Türkiye. 

Portugal have only managed to keep one clean sheet from their eight matches in the tournament so far, so that will certainly be a concern for them. They have more than made up for that deficiency though by making it to this stage. They would love to add another win to the record books, having won the inaugural NL in 2019 but they go into this match with a bit of uncertainty surrounding manager Roberto Martinez, with Jose Mourinho potentially waiting in the wings to take over. It appears that a certain number 7’s long and successful international career is coming to an end so he will certainly hope to go out on a high note. Portugal go into this match not in the best of form, they have not won any of the last three matches played away from home. Francisco Trincao could be a player to watch as he had a very strong end to the season with Sporting.

Spain vs France

MHP Arena, Stuttgart, Thursday @ 21:00

One of European football’s oldest rivals is back to entertain us on Thursday evening as Spain take on France for the right to make it through to the final of the NL. These two teams already met in the 2021 final and it was France that triumphed on that occasion. Spain did manage to get revenge though, when they beat France in the semi-final in 2024 in Germany, a result that got them through to the final against England, which they went on to win. They go into this match on an 18 match unbeaten run, so form and momentum are definitely on their side. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has decided to freshen things up by recalling Isco, who has had an excellent season for Betis, as well as calling up newcomers Fermin and Dean Huijsen, of which the latter has just signed for Real Madrid after an excellent season in the PL for Bournemouth. Spain are unbeaten in the tournament since 2022 so they look like a good bet to go on and win this trophy to add to their triumph in Germany last year. Dani Olmo’s last goal for Spain came against France and he will be looking to repeat the trick here.

France’s last trophy win came back in the 2021 version of this competition and they would love to pick up another win in the NL. Since then they have reached the WC final and the semi-final in Germany last year, so they have been close but have never quite managed to get it over the line. Didier Deschamps has announced that he will leave his role as head coach of France after the 2026 WC and he would love to repeat the feat of winning the NL and WC before departing. Recent head-to-head meetings between these two have been settled by a single goal margin and both teams have had success against the other. Kylian Mbappe is likely to be the key man again for France, he has contributed to three goals across his last two matches against Spain and ended the season in great form, scoring ten goals in his last six club games for Real Madrid.

Odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last Updated: 04.06.2025