3 days Ago
ANKARA Croatia and Denmark were the latest teams to bag 2024-25 UEFA Nations League quarterfinal tickets on Monday. A Luka Modric-led Croatia earned a 1-1 home draw with already-qualified Portugal as defender Josko Gvardiol canceled out Portuguese forward Joao Felix's opener in the first half in Split. Zlatko Dalic's Croatia needed at least a point for the last eight.
Portugal won Group A1 with 14 points. Croatia finished second as they had eight points in six matches. In Group A1, Scotland won at Poland 2-1 with a very late header scored by Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson.
Hosts Poland have been relegated to League B as they had four points in six games. Scotland finished in third spot with seven points as they will go into the relegation playoff. In addition to Croatia, Denmark booked their place at the Nations League last eight as they avoided a defeat in their last group match at Serbia.
Serbian defender Strahinja Pavlovic was sent off near the end of the match in Leskovac. Denmark took a 0-0 draw with Serbia to be Group A4 runners-up with eight points. Group winners Spain had 16 points to have already reached the knockouts as the defending champions beat Switzerland 3-2 in Tenerife.
Serbia were third with six points to play the relegation playoff, and Switzerland had two points in six appearances to be relegated to a lower league. Portugal, Croatia, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark will play the League A quarterfinals on March 20-23, 2025. The semifinals will take place on June 4 and 5, and the 2025 final will name this season's champions on June 8.
Founded in 2018, the Nations League has been won by Portugal (2019), France (2021) and Spain (2023). - San Marino promoted to League C The world's lowest-ranked football team, San Marino, beat Liechtenstein 3-1 in a Group D1 away match in Vaduz on Monday to be promoted to League C. Visitors San Marino came from behind to score three goals for the first time.
Liechtenstein's Aron Sele scored the opener for the hosts in the 40th minute, but San Marino secured the 3-1 win after Lorenzo Lazzari, Nicola Nanni and Alessandro Golinucci found the net in the second half. San Marino were promoted to a higher division for the next edition of the Nations League as they won Group D1 with seven points in four matches. Second-place Gibraltar had six points to qualify for the promotion playoff.
Liechtenstein had two points to stay in the lowest division: League D. The Nations League knockout round playoffs will be played on March 20-23, 2025. - Monday's results: Croatia - Portugal: 1-1 Poland - Scotland: 1-2 Spain - Switzerland: 3-2 Serbia - Denmark: 0-0 Liechtenstein - San Marino: 1-3 Kosovo - Lithuania: 1-0 Luxembourg - Northern Ireland: 2-2 Romania - Greek Cypriot administration: 4-1 Bulgaria - Belarus: 1-1.
