Croatia and the Netherlands are in the box seat for a place in the UEFA Nations League finals, but Denmark and Belgium are lurking should they slip up.

The third edition of the UEFA Nations League is well under way, with five matchdays played and one more to come ahead of the finals in June 2023.

UEFA.com assesses the lie of the land ahead of Sunday's Matchday 6 encounters.

Sunday 25 September Group A1 Austria vs Croatia Group A1 Denmark vs France Group A4 Netherlands vs Belgium Group A4 Wales vs Poland Group C1 Luxembourg vs Lithuania Group C1 Faroe Islands vs Türkiye Group C3 Slovakia vs Belarus (17:00) Group C3 Azerbaijan vs Kazakhstan (17:00) Group D1 Andorra 1-1 Latvia Group D1 Moldova 2-0 Liechtenstein

All kick-off times 20:45 CET unless stated

Not many gave Croatia much hope when they were thumped 3-0 at home by Austria in their opening Group A1 game. The outlook wasn’t much improved by a 1-1 draw with France in Split but Zlatko Dalić's charges have shown their mettle, with two victories against Denmark sandwiching a fine 1-0 win in France.

It all leaves them in the box seat for a Finals spot: it will be theirs if they win or if Denmark fail to beat France. Croatia's last opponents? Austria, of course. Dalić issued a public apology after the sides' previous meeting, bemoaning the fact that "Austria were faster and more aggressive than us". All would be forgiven with victory in Vienna.

There have been 128 Low Countries derbies over the years, but it is over six decades since Belgium last beat the Netherlands by three goals or more – which is what they require to snatch a finals spot from the grasp of their noisy neighbours. The Oranje are hardly going through a bad spell, either, having won 4-1 in Belgium in the reverse fixture and extending their unbeaten run to 14 with Thursday's 2-0 victory in Poland.

Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi's assertion that "they have the upper hand" therefore seems to be putting it lightly, yet with Belgium's array of attacking talent there is always hope. And the Oranje are not impervious at the back – the clean sheet in Warsaw was their first of 2022, a year in which they have conceded twice on three occasions. "Never say never," concludes Batshuayi.

It is also win or bust for Wales in the other game in Group A4: if they fail to beat Poland in Cardiff then they will drop back down into League B; triumph, and their opponents will be consigned to the same fate. "The good thing is that it still all depends on us," says Czesław Michniewicz, whose Poland side came from behind to beat Wales at home in June. "It won't be easy but we can deal with that."

• Holders France will not defend their crown next summer and a disappointing campaign could yet turn more sour: if Didier Deschamps' side lose in Denmark and Austria beat Croatia then the world champions will be relegated.

• Türkiye and Kazakhstan already have promotion to League B in the bag after wrapping up their groups with a game to spare, and will both be looking to complete the campaign unbeaten on their travels.

• Latvia secured promotion to League C in the early kick-offs after securing a 1-1 draw away to Andorra, enough to seal top spot in Group D1 ahead of Moldova.

Semi-finals: 14 & 15 June 2023 Final & third-place match: 18 June 2023 Play-outs: 21–23 & 24–26 March 2024

© 1998-2022 UEFA. All rights reserved.

The UEFA word, the UEFA logo and all marks related to UEFA competitions, are protected by trademarks and/or copyright of UEFA. No use for commercial purposes may be made of such trademarks. Use of UEFA.com signifies your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.