Zidane, Klopp, Xavi: Eight New Managers Make Their Debuts in UEFA Nations League

The 2026-2027 UEFA Nations League begins this Thursday with an opening matchday marked by the simultaneous debuts of eight managers, including Zinédine Zidane taking charge of the France team for the very first time.

League A comprises sixteen nations divided into four groups. France is placed in group A1 alongside Italy, Belgium and Turkey. Group A2 brings together Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia and Greece; group A3 England, Spain, Croatia and Czechia; group A4 Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Wales.

Beyond Zidane, this opening matchday also sees the debuts of Jürgen Klopp at the helm of Germany, Xavi Hernández with the Netherlands, Jorge Jesus with Portugal and Mark van Bommel with Belgium. Roberto Mancini, meanwhile, is making his return to the Italy bench.

France will play all six of their league phase matches at 20:45. The schedule is as follows: Turkey-France on 25 September, Belgium-France on 28 September, France-Italy on 2 October, France-Belgium on 5 October, Italy-France on 12 November and France-Turkey on 15 November.

The league phase runs until 17 November 2026. The quarter-finals are scheduled for 25-28 March 2027, the semi-finals on 9 June 2027 and the final on 13 June 2027. Matches are played primarily at 20:45, with kick-offs also scheduled for 15:00, 16:00 and 18:00 depending on the matchday.