Zidane, Klopp and Ronaldo headline Europe’s Nations League return

Champions League-winning coaches Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp begin new international careers this week as European football returns after the World Cup, while 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo remains in action for Portugal.

The revamped Nations League programme features 54 European national teams and marks the first four-match, two-weekend break in Fifa’s reshaped international calendar. France’s opening game under Zidane, away to Turkey, and Germany’s fixtures under Klopp are among the main attractions.

Thomas Tuchel is the third Champions League-winning coach involved. His England side host Spain on Saturday in a meeting between two teams who came close to contesting the World Cup final in July.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has extended his contract through 2032 and remains the leading figure among international managers after guiding his team to European and world titles following his appointment in 2022. The 65-year-old had coached only 11 first-team club matches, all for Alaves in Spain’s second tier 15 years ago.

The latest international break is the first under a Fifa calendar that sets when clubs must release players. Club managers had long sought fewer, longer breaks to reduce disruption and limit long-distance travel for players based outside Europe.

Fifa proposed the change in 2021 as part of an unsuccessful plan to stage the World Cup every two years. In 2023, it approved merging the two-match breaks in September and October into one four-match block.

Zidane, a France great as a player, won three successive Champions League titles during his first two-and-a-half years as Real Madrid manager, completing the run in 2018. He has now succeeded former club and country team-mate Didier Deschamps, with expectations high as he takes charge of a talented France squad captained by Kylian Mbappe.

“I’ve waited five years for this chance, so that’s why I’m a bit emotional,” Zidane, 54, said in July after receiving the job many had expected since his second spell at Real Madrid ended in 2021.

France were eliminated in the semi-finals of the past two major tournaments by Spain, although they beat them in the 2021 Nations League final. Zidane’s first matches are against Turkey in Izmit on Friday and Belgium in Brussels three days later, before Italy and Belgium visit Stade de France.

Klopp lost the 2018 Champions League final to Zidane’s Real Madrid while in charge of Liverpool, before winning the trophy against Tottenham a year later. Two years after leaving Anfield, he takes over Germany, who last won a World Cup knockout match in the 2014 final and have not reached a European Championship final since 2008.

His first squad contained 44 players, split into two groups for two matches each. Klopp also wore a cap carrying a slogan intended to reclaim Germany’s national flag from far-right politics. His era begins against the Netherlands on Thursday, followed by matches against Greece in Augsburg, Serbia in Munich and Greece again on 4 October.

Tuchel’s England were within 10 minutes of reaching their first World Cup final in 60 years before losing 2-1 to Argentina. He said last week that “99.9%” of supporters did not focus on his substitutions and tactics while defending a one-goal lead. England host Spain at Wembley on Saturday, with Croatia and the Czech Republic also in their group.

Ronaldo was included in Portugal’s first squad under 72-year-old Jorge Jesus, who previously led him and Al-Nassr to the Saudi league title in May. Ronaldo has 233 international appearances and 146 goals. Nations League holders Portugal begin their defence against Wales on Thursday.

He is expected to face Erling Haaland for the first time when Portugal meet Norway in Oslo on Sunday. Ronaldo has played Norway once, in 2011, when Haaland was 10. Haaland, now 26, has scored 62 international goals, including seven in five World Cup matches.

Scotland have appointed Belgian Sebastian Pocognoli, Belgium are led by Dutchman Mark van Bommel and the Netherlands by Spain’s Xavi Hernandez. Xavi has replaced Ronald Koeman for a second time after also succeeding him at Barcelona in 2021. Italy, absent from the World Cup for 12 years, have reappointed Roberto Mancini after his European Championship success in 2021.

The 16 highest-ranked teams will play in four round-robin groups through November, with the top two progressing to two-legged quarter-finals in March. A four-team finals tournament will be held from 9 to 13 June by one of the semi-finalists.

League B and League C each feature 16 teams, while six nations compete in League D. Russia remain banned from international football. Final standings will help determine places in qualifying play-offs for the 2028 European Championship in March 2028.