March 2025 International break: dates and what competitions will take place

After all the action from round of 16 on Champions League, Europa and Conference League, the first International Break of 2025 is right around the corner. After next weekend, footballers will leave their clubs and join their national squads for several competitions, including two more games in the lenghty CONMEBOL World Cup qualification (that started in 2023 and will end in September 2025) as well as the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals, mixed with the UEFA World Cup qualification.

The most exciting action will probably take place in Europe: the Nations League quarter-finals will take place on March 20 (the first leg) and March 23 (the second leg) between the following teams.

UEFA Nations League quarter-finals

• Netherlands - Spain


• Croatia - France


• Denmark - Portugal


• Italy - Germany

The semi-finals will take place on 4 and 5 June. The winner of Netherlands vs. Spain will face either Croatia or France; and winner of Italy vs. Germany will face either Denmark or Portugal. The final will follow shortly after, on June 8.

UEFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers

At the same time as the Nations League QFs, the UEFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers will start for some Groups (H-L), which includes teams like England (vs. Albania on March 21, and vs. Latvia on March 24).

The qualifying process consists on a group stage with 12 groups, with four or five games (some groups have four nations, other have five), between March (groups with five nations) or September (grouos with four nations) and November 2025. The winners of each group will qualify for World Cup 2026, and the secon will move to the play-offs to be played in 2026.

CONMEBOL World Cup 2026 qualifiers

Many of the top players in clubs in Europe will return to their countries in South America to play matchdays 13 and 14 8out of 18) for the CONMEBOL World Cup 2026 qualifiers. Those games will take place on March 20 and March 25, and will include fixtures such as Urugay vs. Argentina or Argentina vs. Brazil (with the long awaited return of Neymar).