Nations League

[skiathospurs]

Didnt even know about this latest UEFA money grab until today.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41580638

what is the Nations League? How does it work? And what's the point of it?

Uefa say it "creates more meaningful and competitive matches for teams and a dedicated calendar and structure for national team football".

• The competition, which starts in September 2018, will provide four qualifying spots for Euro 2020 and will determine the composition of the draw pots for the subsequent Euro 2020 qualifiers.
• By virtue of the format, lower-tier countries - the bottom 16 in the rankings - are now guaranteed one of the 24 qualifying slots for the European Championship finals.
• There will also be promotion and relegation between divisions.
• Each of the four tiers A, B, C and D will contain four groups of three or four teams, with these decided in a draw on Wednesday, 24 January 2018 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

• Watch Uefa's guide to the Nations League
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

[Liam]

This looks pretty interesting and might help make international football a bit more enjoyable on the whole as qualifiers are boring as are friendlies so it's only the big tournaments every two summers that are any good. If it means there's more a competitive side to most international games it'll be good I think. Playing teams that are actually good on a regular basis should be good the England team too as I think they struggle with playing the easy games in the qualifiers and then upping their game for the better nations as the standard is worlds apart.

 

[Glenjamin]

Ooooo the mighty Norn Iron slip into group B! Looks bloody tough though lol!!

 

[Style And Glory]

First I've heard of this & just skimmed the info.

So each league winner from A, B, C, & D will win a qualifying spot?

If so, a minnow from group D will gain access to the Euros? Have I got that right?

 

[skiathospurs]

First I've heard of this & just skimmed the info.

So each league winner from A, B, C, & D will win a qualifying spot?

If so, a minnow from group D will gain access to the Euros? Have I got that right?

think so,as usual with uefa you need to be a lawyer to read their press releases.
Smacks of monetarising friendlies/international breaks,a grab at trying to keep international football relevant.

 

[Style And Glory]

Agreed.

On the plus side, it could make matches more interesting & relevant.

On the flip side, it may make it much harder for call-ups to break into the national team with more matches being meaningful.
Furthermore, for the regular national players, there'll be no time to breathe between club & country matches.

 

[birdonaball]

Looks interesting. I try my best to stay awake through internationals, but bloody hell they are boring. Maybe this will makes things a little more spicy. I can't have been the only one to watch England qualify way too easily in a shoddy group with no bite, for us only to get our heads kicked in when we head to Russia. I fear for Kane and the rest of our lads when we come sloping back early next June.....I hope by then Kane is no longer captain, after all, the English media is famous for building up a player to great heights (i.e. Kane right now) and dropping them from flat on their faces.

With the teams in group A, England finally may have to get their act together and play football....and pick players worthy of a place as opposed to face pleasers....I can't believe I'm already hearing Jack Wilshire's name being dropped for the England WC squad !

 

[skiathospurs]

Agreed.

On the plus side, it could make matches more interesting & relevant.

On the flip side, it may make it much harder for call-ups to break into the national team with more matches being meaningful.
Furthermore, for the regular national players, there'll be no time to breathe between club & country matches.

It`s the constant seeding,coefficients and rankings which protect the strong&rich from being challenged that even following a nation and club which mostly benfit from it,I find protectionist.It tries to ensure for financial gain the powerhouses are seen safely through to play more matches,get richer,more powerful,ensuring the closed shop status quo can continue.Yes iceland NI,wales some what have bucked the trend and good on them,for doing it inspite of a rigged system.

As a note to this method,how many decent years will we have to have in europe as a club to get out of pot 3 into pots 1 or 2 and avoid the predictable group of death scenario.Pretty sure if the 2 big spain teams,bayern,man u ended up in pot 3 the system would be revised to make it more inclusive,thats how this system evolves imo.