Strategy
The Nations League is playing through the international break
We have been describing this break as an empty board, and it is not one. What stopped is the Premier League, LaLiga and Liga MX. The UEFA Nations League started its league phase on September 24 and is playing straight through the gap, with matchday 3 starting Thursday, October 1.
That is a correction to our own page. In no league football for 11 days we listed everything with fixtures between September 28 and October 8 and read it from our own fixture data. The list was accurate and it was incomplete, because the Nations League is not in our fixture data at all. More on why that matters below.
England have one win and one loss, and Spain have two wins
| Date | Match | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, September 26 | England – Spain | 2-3 |
| Tuesday, September 29 | Czechia – England | 0-2 |
| Tuesday, September 29 | Spain – Croatia | 4-1 |
All four of those teams are in the same group. England beat Czechia away but lost at home to Spain, which leaves Spain top with six points from six. Results and dates come from the ESPN scoreboard for September 29 and the Nations League fixture list.
One methodology warning if you are arguing about this in the group chat: the public tables for this group are mixing up the first two matchdays, so trust the scores and their dates, not the matchday number attached to them.
Tuesday also produced Scotland 0-3 Switzerland, which tells you the competition is not a set of friendlies with a trophy glued on.
Thursday’s fixtures
Matchday 3 opens on Thursday, October 1. The headline game is Germany vs Serbia at the Allianz Arena, 7:45pm BST — 2:45pm ET, confirmed in two independent sources (La Nación and Infobae México).
Denmark vs Portugal, Greece vs Netherlands and Wales vs Norway are on the same Thursday. The matchday runs across several days and our sources disagree about which day closes it, so we are not going to print an end date we cannot stand behind. Thursday is the start, and that is the part everyone agrees on.
The awkward part: you cannot build this pool on Quini
If you got this far planning a Nations League pick’em pool, the honest answer is not today, and we would rather say it now than let you go looking for the option.
Quini’s competition catalogue has 21 leagues loaded, and we checked it against our own fixture data this morning. LaLiga, the Premier League, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Liga MX, the Brasileirão, the Argentine league, MLS and several more are all there. There is not a single national-team competition. No Nations League, no qualifiers, no friendlies.
So this week’s football is something to watch and argue about, not a round you can score. That is a product limit, not an editorial choice, and it is the real reason the Nations League was missing from the fixture list we published on Sunday.
What to actually do with the week
A break is a bad time to play and an excellent time to organise. Three things that are much cheaper to do today than at 3pm on October 10:
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Create the Premier League pool now and leave it unopened. The Premier League returns Saturday, October 10, a date published by the league itself. Setting the group up now and leaving it idle until matchweek 6 avoids the usual mess of building it on the morning of the first kickoff while three people never finish joining. The walkthrough is in how to run a soccer prediction pool with friends.
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Settle the tiebreaker before it decides anything. This is the gap almost every group carries. If two people finish level, does it go to most exact scores, or to the smallest total goal difference across picks? Deciding that with the table in front of you never goes well.
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Check what the call-ups did before you judge matchweek 6 form. Four national-team matches in one window is a lot of minutes in players’ legs, and the squad-level version of that is in what call-ups do to your pick’em pool.
Frequently asked questions
Is there any football during the October international break?
Yes. There is no Premier League, LaLiga or Liga MX fixture between September 28 and October 8, but the UEFA Nations League is playing inside that window. Its league phase started on September 24 and matchday 3 begins on Thursday, October 1.
Can I run a Nations League pick’em pool on Quini?
Not today. All 21 competitions loaded in Quini are club competitions. There is no national-team competition in the catalogue, so there is no round to generate.
When does the Premier League come back?
Saturday, October 10, for matchweek 6. LaLiga returns on Friday, October 9, and Champions League league-phase matchday 2 is played on October 13 and 14.
How are England doing in the Nations League?
One win and one defeat so far: a 2-3 home loss to Spain on September 26 and a 0-2 win in Czechia on September 29. Spain lead the group with two wins from two.
Do I have to put money in to play?
No. Quini never collects or holds the group’s money. A pool is free up to 3 players, and PRO is a one-time unlock from around USD 9.99 per pool rather than a subscription. What gets handed out at the end is bragging rights.
Have the Premier League pool built before October 10. You choose which matches count, what each correct pick is worth and how ties break, and the table moves while the match is still being played. Download Quini and get the group closed before the football comes back.