UEFA Nations League

Talk about other football teams at all levels. AND ANY Glos City related threads, even if talking about the groundsharing.

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Shade
Posts: 16823
Joined: 27 Sep 2010, 13:02
Location: Cheltenhamshire
What?

I've just read a BBC article explaining it and it still makes very little sense to me. England are in League A, and the teams in League A, B, C and D are split into groups of 3, within that League, and the winners of those mini groups play semis and then a final against the other winners of their League's mini groups to find out who the winner of that League is, and those 4 teams qualify for Euro 2020? But then there's the normal qualifying campaign anyway, with 5 groups of 5 teams and 5 groups of 6 teams? Is this just to guarantee that there will be at least one team that reach the Euros (from League D) that are cannon fodder?

What?
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29758
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Just read it, I understand barring one thing.

It is unclear whether a League D cannon fodder team will qualify.

The BBC state:
“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.”

But then that after the 20 qualifies via normal qualification groups:
“The remaining four of the 24 places for Euro 2020 will go to play-off winners, comprised of the 16 group winners of the Nations League.“

So the only League D are guaranteed a Euros place is if they only play off against each other, rather than say League D teams playing League A teams in play offs.

Aside from Euro qualification, the Nations League looks good to me. And the promotion and relegation gives a good chance for poor teams to improve their rankings, and over achieving teams likely to drop down. So teams like England who are always top seed in a group of poor teams may get relegated to Group B, and teams like Norway who often come third ina group behind two top teams may get promoted from Group C. I think it will give a fairer reflection of team rankings.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29758
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Guardian answers my question with clarity.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ember-2018" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Uefa has introduced the competition to revive international football with more competitive matches and to give countries more chances to play against teams of a comparable standard. But many fans, players and pundits have expressed some confusion over the idea, particularly as it will run alongside qualifying for the 2020 European Championship.

That process will now begin in March 2019, with countries split into 10 groups of five or six, and the top two teams in each group qualifying for the finals. The major change, however, is that the final four places will be decided via play-offs between the winners of the 16 Nations League groups in 2018.

Each league – A to D – will have its own play-off competition with single-leg semi-finals and a final to decide who wins the place. The draw for those play-offs will take place in November 2019 and the play-offs themselves will occur in March 2020.

If the winners of a Nations League group have already qualified for Euro 2020 via the qualifying groups, their place in the play-off will go to the next best team in their Nations League group that has not secured a place. If a league still does not have enough teams for a play-off, as is entirely possible for League A, the places will be filled by the best-ranked teams from the league below."
Trembelo
Posts: 1
Joined: 05 Oct 2017, 15:28
I like the idea. And if winning this qualifies a nation for the upcoming EURO, there's an additional reason for nations not to treat this just as a series of friendly matches.
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Sprout Picker
Posts: 1150
Joined: 20 Nov 2009, 11:20
Shade wrote:What?

I've just read a BBC article explaining it and it still makes very little sense to me. England are in League A, and the teams in League A, B, C and D are split into groups of 3, within that League, and the winners of those mini groups play semis and then a final against the other winners of their League's mini groups to find out who the winner of that League is, and those 4 teams qualify for Euro 2020? But then there's the normal qualifying campaign anyway, with 5 groups of 5 teams and 5 groups of 6 teams? Is this just to guarantee that there will be at least one team that reach the Euros (from League D) that are cannon fodder?

What?
Saw this the other day, I wondered how long it took the BBC writer to put that article together and whether he's recovered yet.
RegencyCheltenhamSpa
Posts: 29758
Joined: 21 Nov 2009, 03:27
Sprout Picker wrote:
Shade wrote:What?

I've just read a BBC article explaining it and it still makes very little sense to me. England are in League A, and the teams in League A, B, C and D are split into groups of 3, within that League, and the winners of those mini groups play semis and then a final against the other winners of their League's mini groups to find out who the winner of that League is, and those 4 teams qualify for Euro 2020? But then there's the normal qualifying campaign anyway, with 5 groups of 5 teams and 5 groups of 6 teams? Is this just to guarantee that there will be at least one team that reach the Euros (from League D) that are cannon fodder?

What?
Saw this the other day, I wondered how long it took the BBC writer to put that article together and whether he's recovered yet.
It read like several people had written different sections without knowing what the others wrote, and where the article owner who stitched it together took a flyer and didn’t bother to read it through. We’d never put such a shoddy output in front of a client.
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