The Netherlands will be Spain’s rival in the quarterfinals of the Nations League, as determined by the draw held this Friday in the Swiss city of Nyon, in which the path to the final has also been defined. If they beat the Dutch, the team led by Luis de la Fuente would face the winner of the Croatia-France tie. On the other side of the draw, Italy-Germany and Denmark-Portugal will be played.
It will be the first time that the Netherlands and Spain meet officially since they did so consecutively in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, with very different results. Without in the first, Iniesta’s goal gave Spain its first World Cup, in the second the defeat of the Netherlands in the first game of the group stage (1-5) led to one of the saddest performances that Spain is remembered in an event of that caliber.
The Dutch are one of the few teams with which Spain has a negative balance. They have faced each other 13 times, with six wins for the Dutch, two draws and five wins for the Spanish.
In his last tournaments, he was a semifinalist in the Euro Cup, lost to Argentina in the quarterfinals of the Qatar World Cup (on penalties) and has been in two of the three previous Final Four of the Nations. Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Xavi Simons, Cody Gakpo and Joshua Zirkzee are some of the main stars of a team that once again has Ronald Koeman on the bench.
Spain, current champion of the tournament, is seeking its third consecutive presence in the Final Four, after having been in the 2021 and 2023 finals.
According to UEFA, the quarterfinals will be played on Thursday, March 20 and Sunday, March 23, 2025. The semifinals will take place on June 4 and 5, while the match for third place and the final will be played on Sunday June 8.
In the draw, the playoffs for promotion and relegation of the different leagues of the Nations League were also defined. They are the following:
A/B League
Türkiye – Hungary
Ukraine – Belgium
Austria – Serbia
Greece – Scotland
go B/C
Kosovo – Iceland
Bulgaria – Ireland
Armenia – Georgia
Slovakia – Slovenia
C/D League
Gibraltar – Latvia
Malta – Luxembourg
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