AuthorJeffEyesRimmer Quite a number of fans, including us here at Football Outcasts, are not the greatest lovers of the International friendlies that seem to interrupt the domestic season. Well it seems UEFA have taken this to heart and come up with a competition that they hope will replace the meaningless friendlies and generate more interest from fans. Its call the Nation League and it will provide a back door entry into future European Championships too, so it’s worth understanding its permutations. So what is the Nation’s League? The basic idea is that the 55 European nations have been arranged into four tiers based on their FIFA ranking - 12 teams in League A, 12 teams in League B, 15 teams in League C, and 16 teams in League D - with each tier split into four leagues of three or four teams. The draw for the groups happened this week and was based on the current FIFA rankings. There are some real interesting group games already and the first games will be in September this year. Although it’s important to note that Ukraine and Russia will always be kept apart. The groups are: League A
Pot 1: Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain. Pot 2: France, England, Switzerland, Italy. Pot 3: Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands. League B Pot 1: Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia. Pot 2: Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Pot 3: Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey. League C Pot 1: Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia. Pot 2: Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway. Pot 3: Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland. Pot 4: Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania. League D Pot 1: Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia. Pot 2: Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg. Pot 3: Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta. Pot 4: Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar. The sides in each group will play home and away in a 10-week period between September and November, which was traditionally when the international friendlies were played. The country finishing top of each section is promoted to a higher tier and the nation finishing bottom drops down one. The idea is to introduce promotion and relegation aspects, something fans enjoy, into international football. Which, I am going to admit on paper I think is a good idea. The four countries who win the groups in the top tier (League A) will play in knockout finals next June to decide the Nations League winner. The final is scheduled to take place in June 2019. So this adds a small knock-out competition in between the major competitions in world football, again to reduce meaningless friendlies. What the Nations League is not a replacement for is the actual qualification process for any of the major tournaments, especially the European Championships (to a certain degree anyway). The qualification process for the Euros remains pretty much the same but there will no longer be any playoffs. Now the top two sides from each of the ten groups in qualification go to the Euros. However, due to the Euros expansion that happened as part of Euro 2016 that means that there are still four places up for grabs at the Euros (24 teams at the Euros now). This is where the Nations League gets interesting and where teams might be able to qualify for the Euros through the back-door as it were. So back to the Nations League then, as well as the finals for League A, there will be four play-offs with a similar format, one for each League. Each group winner takes a spot in the semi-finals for that league. If the group winner is already one of 20 qualified teams, FIFA rankings will be used to give the play-off spot to another team from that league. If less than four teams in the entire League remain unqualified, play-off spots for that league are given to teams of the next-lower league. This determines the four remaining qualifying spots for the European Championship. This has the chance to get very confusing very quickly but hopefully it will all fall into place when the games start. Essentially that does mean that for lower nations there is a realistic route through this system and they have a genuine way of making it to a major competition, which is only good for football. The next Euros will have a team like San Marino, Andorra, Malta or Faeroe Islands present due to this format. That does mean is that there is potential for a bit of gamesmanship to go on, very much like how Wales, Romania and Poland have exploited the friendly point system to improve their rankings for better pot draws. Teams can potentially attempt to drop down tiers for a more favourable chance at grabbing one of the Euro spots. To be honest this gamesmanship is harder to exploit I feel that the friendly one that teams have done in the past and ultimately not many teams will want to lose games intentionally to drop lower. It still will affect their rankings and later pot draws so I don’t see the problem. Overall I wasn’t sold on the idea of this Nations League but the idea has grown on me. It provides international football that actually will mean something in the long run, provides us fans something more than a meaningless friendly to cheer and provides a bit more spice when potential relegation down a tier is on the line. Additionally, it should help improve nations lower down the pyramid and provides a bit more of an impetus to improve to rise up the groups. I am willing to give this a chance and hopefully it goes from strength to strength. What do you think, good move for international football? |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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