April has been an exciting month for European soccer as countries have battled head-to-head in the UEFA Nations League. Before 2018, European national teams only played meaningless friendlies, but the introduction of the Nations League has brought new engagement to the action-packed sport. The league, filled with some of the best competitors in the world, features eight of the ten top-ranked teams worldwide. It is divided into twelve groups, with the top four teams being in Group A.
Over the course of several months, the European national teams fight it out for their spot in the knockout stages, hoping to be crowned the champions. Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, played here in Los Angeles, the games are not only a competition, but also a huge factor in the seeding for the World Cup qualifications in the European Qualifiers.
Since September, the teams have been battling to top their group and advance in the bracket, and now, with the quarterfinals closing, we have seen crazy upsets and extremely close games. On one side of the bracket, the hosts of the competition, Germany, faced off in a high-scoring game. The Germans’ victory over the Italians with an aggregate score of 5-4 advanced them to the next round, while the Portuguese showcased a dominant 5-3 victory over the Danes.
On the opposite side, France completed the comeback against Croatia. After being down 0-2 in the first leg, they flipped the score to beat Croatia with a dominant 2-0 victory, later knocking the Balkan nation out 5-4 in penalties. Finally, led by young star Lamine Yamal, Spain also made headlines defeating the Netherlands in a 5-5 aggregate thriller, eventually winning 5-4 on penalties.
“While Spain may have had a close result, I think they are looking strong to win the whole tournament,” William Javelera ‘27 noted, like many others, optimistic for back-to-back crowns for the Spaniards.
Looking forward to the semifinals between Germany and Portugal, and two heavy favorites, Spain and France, Loyola students can only expect more competitive games to see which of the remaining four will bring the competition home.