Events

Netherlands lands hosting rights to UEFA Nations League finals

Featured image credit: Jeroen Bentvelzen on Unsplash

Featured image credit: Jeroen Bentvelzen on Unsplash

UEFA, football’s European governing body, has announced today (Tuesday) that the Netherlands will host the Nations League finals in 2023, with matches to be played in Rotterdam and Enschede.

It will mark the first time that the Netherlands has hosted the event. The host country will be competing in the Nations League finals alongside Croatia, Italy and Spain.

De Kuip, home of Rotterdam-based Eredivisie club Feyenoord, will host matches, along with Grolsch Veste, home of FC Twente. The stadiums have a capacity of 47,500 and 30,000, respectively.

Next year’s finals will mark the third edition of the event. The inaugural event took place in Portugal in 2019 and was won by the host country, while France won the second edition, which took place in Italy in 2021.

The semi-finals will take place on June 14-15 next year, with the third-place and final scheduled for June 18. The draw to determine the semi-finals will take place in January.

Earlier this year, Feyenoord officially dropped plans to develop a new stadium and also ruled out redeveloping De Kuip amid the current economic climate. A new 63,000-seat stadium had been in the pipeline to replace De Kuip, which has been the club’s home since opening in 1937.

Meanwhile, UEFA has announced that next year’s Women’s Futsal Euro will take place at the Fönix Arena in Debrecen, Hungary from March 16-19. Host nation Hungary will contest the event along with Portugal, Spain and Ukraine.