Portugal, Spain, Germany and France finally begin their World Cup qualifying campaigns this month, the heavyweight European quartet having been involved in Nations League action while the European qualifiers began earlier in the year.
Spain are the bookmakers' favourites to add the World Cup trophy to the Euros crown they won by beating England in 2024 and should have few problems heading a qualifying group containing Bulgaria, Georgia and Turkey.
For France it is a final major tournament for manager Didier Deschamps, winner of the World Cup in 2018 and so close to repeating the feat in Qatar four years later.
Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan make up their qualifying section.
Portugal sprung something of a surprise in winning the Nations League as Cristiano Ronaldo continues to defy time in heading up the attack for Roberto Martinez's side. Their campaign begins away to Armenia.
For Germany, although they suffered defeats in the Nations League finals, confidence is growing that highly-rated coach Julian Nagelsmann can harness the talents of a younger generation of players, evidenced by this summer's U21 Euros in which the German side were just pipped to glory by England.
