The UEFA Nations League

UEFA is going to replace the European international friendly matches and make them competitive! The decision has been made and since 2018 all the 55 UEFA national teams will take part in a competition, called the UEFA Nations League. It will be made of 4 divisions (A, B, C and D).

The higher rated UEFA teams will be seeded in the upper divisions, as the A division will be the highest. In addition, there will be 4 groups in each division. The winners of the 4 groups in each of the divisions will take part in the playoffs and eventually in a final game. The winners of the finals of each division will qualify for the Euro 2020! If the winners in each group have already qualified for the final tournament through the regular qualifiers, it will be replaced in the playoffs by the second-ranked in the group.

This competition will affect the qualifications. There will be 10 groups, as usual, from which the best two teams will find a place in the final tournament. This time, there won’t be playoffs for the third-placed teams in the regular groups. The last 4 participants in the Euro 2020 will be determined from the UEFA Nations League!

Moreover, the winners of each of the lower divisions’ groups will promote to a higher division and the last teams in their groups will be relegated. This will make the qualifiers even more interesting, as it will reduce the number of friendly matches.

Another important thing is that the tournament will start in September 2018 (before the regular qualifiers) and the group stage of the Nations League will last until November 2018. The beginning of the regular qualifying campaign will be in March 2019.

In conclusion, it now sounds a little bit complicated, but once started, I am sure you will be very passionate about it!