The UEFA Women’s Nations League begins for the first time on Friday with some thrilling encounters on the horizon.

As ever, Playmaker is here to be your handy guide for everything you need to know going into the first round of games.

The format is essentially the same as the men’s Nations League only with fewer teams (there's no League D just yet).

Here we’ll cover League A where all the fun stuff is happening but we’ll have a quick look at how Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland can do in League B later.

League A

Group 1 

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We’d expect Scotland to be most likely to face relegation to League B but they could potentially sneak in ahead of Belgium.

Excitingly, the first round features neighbours fighting each other as England host Scotland at the Stadium of Light on Friday while the Netherlands travel to Leuven to take on Belgium.

Group 2

Next, we have Group 2 made up of France, Norway, Austria, and Portugal. France and Norway are the two strongest sides here, although the Norwegians have been visibly in decline in recent tournaments.

Austria and Portugal will be no pushovers though, especially Portugal who have been one of the most improved European sides over the course of the last few years.

Group 2 will kick off with Norway hosting Austria while Portugal will be the visitors in France.

Group 3

This might be a tough group for Wales who will be up against Germany, Denmark, and Iceland although they may feel like they can finish ahead of the latter.

Germany will be heavy favourites for progressing to the final here but will face stiff competition from the Danes who they will face in Viborg in the opening weekend.

That leaves Wales with what could be, when we come towards the group final games in December, an important clash against Iceland in Reykjavík.

Group 4

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So who will be involved, if anyone, for Friday’s big game against Sweden? We don’t know yet but we’ll keep you updated as the situation becomes clearer.

Spain and Sweden are two of the big hitters in the group that is completed by Switzerland and Italy. It will be the Italians who make the short journey to St. Gallen for the other opening game.

This group might be the most difficult to call, a full-strength Spain would be expected to progress but with so much going on off the field this one could end up being wide open.

That wraps League A, while League B Group 1 fascinatingly has the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland involved with the two teams to face off in Dublin on Friday. Albania and Hungary complete the group.

The likes of Finland, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Poland make up the rest of League B while the likes of Israel, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus will start from the bottom in League C.