UEFA unveils details of inaugural Nations League

T

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UEFA has announced its inaugural Nations League will take place between September and November in 2018.

European football's governing body is initiating the new tournament as a replacement for most international friendlies in the hope it will bring "added status and appeal to national team football."

The format will see 52 competing teams split according to UEFA coefficient into four divisions, each of which will contain four separate groups. Each team will play six games in the initial phase.

The four divisional winners from the top group will then play semi-finals and finals in June 2019 to determine the overall champion, and there will be promotion and relegation between groups lower down.

Finishing positions in the Nations League will have a bearing on the draw for the Euro 2020 European qualifiers, which take place between March to November 2019.

And UEFA will hold back four Euro 2020 places for teams who do well in the Nations League but fail to come through the European qualifiers. Those four places will be fought over by 16 teams - four from each division of the Nations League - a format which, in theory, opens another door to qualification for some of Europe's lower-ranked teams.

A UEFA statement read: "The key driver of the UEFA Nations League is sporting integrity, as member associations, coaches, players and supporters increasingly feel that friendly internationals are not providing adequate sporting competition.

"In addition, the competition will help UEFA realise its stated goal of improving the quality and standing of national team football while maintaining the balance between club and international football.

"The competition will establish the UEFA Nations League champions every odd year while also allowing all nations to play competitively at their level."
 
friendlies with a purpose...I wonder if it will attract support from the paying fans or will it just be more footie on TV??
 
I think the nations league has been a fantastic introduction and added more meaning to the previous endless international friendlies throughout the season. I still think there should be fewer but longer international breaks in the season, but I do think that this is something that UEFA in general have gotten right
 
meee93 said:
I think the nations league has been a fantastic introduction and added more meaning to the previous endless international friendlies throughout the season. I still think there should be fewer but longer international breaks in the season, but I do think that this is something that UEFA in general have gotten right
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Yep, exactly. It has matched similar level sides together in a competitive format. What can be better than that at international football?

It has also exposed Southgate. When it started we played Spain and Croatia in the top tier and had some absolute belters of games. Now we're in group B2 with ROI and our bogey team Finland.

lol - we'll basically be playing against Troy Parrott.
 
I don’t think I’ve ever totally understood the workings of this concept .
I just see that there is an International break , which is a pain in the posterior , look at who we are playing , whether it’s World Cup / European Qualifiers , Nations League or a friendly , and decide from that whether to watch it or not .

It truly makes no difference to me what type of game it is , I basically know that the latest England superstar that is ripping up the League , will be reduced to a flop , the game will be a bore , the same players will be selected , regardless of what position they are best in , and where they will play .

We all know that if Maguire had been fit , he would have gone to the Euros .

I do enjoy the Euros and the World Cup finals , but basically that’s because I like to see what other countries can teach us .



Thanks for reintroducing Tarrico and Galvin’s Shinpads , 80 .
 
Walthamstow wanderer said:
I don’t think I’ve ever totally understood the workings of this concept .
I just see that there is an International break , which is a pain in the posterior , look at who we are playing , whether it’s World Cup / European Qualifiers , Nations League or a friendly , and decide from that whether to watch it or not .

It truly makes no difference to me what type of game it is , I basically know that the latest England superstar that is ripping up the League , will be reduced to a flop , the game will be a bore , the same players will be selected , regardless of what position they are best in , and where they will play .

We all know that if Maguire had been fit , he would have gone to the Euros .

I do enjoy the Euros and the World Cup finals , but basically that’s because I like to see what other countries can teach us .



Thanks for reintroducing Tarrico and Galvin’s Shinpads , 80 .
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For me, international football in England has become very frustrating at every level.

It starts with being relegated to a second class sport because of the Premier League being top priority by the broadcasting companies. The PL has sucked all of the decision rights out of the FA who are powerless to make England the number 1 priority for this country. In every other sport, the international setup is the pinnacle.

I now find it very sad that it is England FC now taking the bullets of criticism rather than the angst being at the true root cause.

As part of the money being sucked away from the international agenda, we're now left with planks like Southgate rather than the Peps and Klopps. That leaves us with the Maguires and Dunks whilst Branthwaite lies on his sun lounger in Portugal. Worse still, whatever 11 take that field you know that the manager isn't capable of organising and optimising them.

Saying that, I do find it great that other countries have the highest appreciation for their international football teams. The entire nation will stop and share the passion of the match together. What we have left is the home and away supporters being the only ones that have this.
 
I think I am one of the minority that detests International football. I don't like it happening during the domestic season and I really don't like the physical strain it puts on players. Last season it really felt like there were far too many international breaks.
 
Matic said:
I think I am one of the minority that detests International football. I don't like it happening during the domestic season and I really don't like the physical strain it puts on players. Last season it really felt like there were far too many international breaks.
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Must admit, I detest the concept that international football is perceived as a negative to physical and mental wellbeing of players. I reckon if you spoke to any player they will tell you that the change is as good as a rest. It's completely the opposite as your club football is 10-11 months of the year and becomes mundane. It's also the domestic football that racks up the stress on the mind and body of the players. It's not the few international games.

Players will tell you that being back in their home country is a blessing, and hanging out with different set of squad mates breaks the monotony. You could tell in Rice's interview the other day that Madds and Grealish are genuine friends of Declan's and he really looks forward to hanging out with them in the international breaks. New friendships are formed, and I'm sure overseas players get to see family. These little things are important in life.

Then you analyse the international fixtures and barely any players are put through the grinder. There is loads of rotations and a constant stream of subs. It's an easier week than most weeks for these top players.

I think your last point is valid though. The 3 autumn monthly breaks seem a little too close together. I've never found a solution though.

I suppose thinking of a world without international football is where this is going. Scrapping it altogether because the money men have won. Instead we'd have club world cups, until they end up in the same place as the prior concept of playing for your country.
 
muttley said:
Must admit, I detest the concept that international football is perceived as a negative to physical and mental wellbeing of players. I reckon if you spoke to any player they will tell you that the change is as good as a rest. It's completely the opposite as your club football is 10-11 months of the year and becomes mundane. It's also the domestic football that racks up the stress on the mind and body of the players. It's not the few international games.

Players will tell you that being back in their home country is a blessing, and hanging out with different set of squad mates breaks the monotony. You could tell in Rice's interview the other day that Madds and Grealish are genuine friends of Declan's and he really looks forward to hanging out with them in the international breaks. New friendships are formed, and I'm sure overseas players get to see family. These little things are important in life.

Then you analyse the international fixtures and barely any players are put through the grinder. There is loads of rotations and a constant stream of subs. It's an easier week than most weeks for these top players.

I think your last point is valid though. The 3 autumn monthly breaks seem a little too close together. I've never found a solution though.

I suppose thinking of a world without international football is where this is going. Scrapping it altogether because the money men have won. Instead we'd have club world cups, until they end up in the same place as the prior concept of playing for your country.
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Fair points on the physical and mental argument. Although I will throw in that some of the journeys the players have to make in less than a 2 week space can be gruelling, so they will add the mental and physical fatigue - especially if having to adjust time zones multiple times.

Personally, I think there is far too much football being played in general. I've long been an advocate for there only being one domestic cup by getting rid of the league cup. How many of the other top leagues have 2 domestic cups?

I had a long discussion with a mate of mine about the future of international football because of the talk around moving the dates of the AFCON, which then impacts clubs even more because they may have to push back on allowing their players to leave. We spoke about what options there are, from creating a separate pool of players who ONLY player International football, to creating a sort of "national service" system where for 24 months a player becomes an International player at a time of their choosing within their career and their contract with their current club is put on hold.

With the second idea you could have a World Cup every 2 years, and then a Euros, Copa Americas, Asian Cup and AFCON every other year from the World Cup. It would work in a similar way to the Gimcheon Sangmu FC setup in Korea, where K-league players pause contracts with their club for 18 months to serve their national service in the Armed Forces football team, Gimcheon. It could also, potentially, force the national teams to work with a wider gamut of players, which could improve the quality of the overall playing pool with the added experience.

But I know none of this will work in reality, because the money men at the top of both domestic AND international competitions won't work together for fear of losing money.
 
muttley said:
Must admit, I detest the concept that international football is perceived as a negative to physical and mental wellbeing of players. I reckon if you spoke to any player they will tell you that the change is as good as a rest. It's completely the opposite as your club football is 10-11 months of the year and becomes mundane. It's also the domestic football that racks up the stress on the mind and body of the players. It's not the few international games.

Players will tell you that being back in their home country is a blessing, and hanging out with different set of squad mates breaks the monotony. You could tell in Rice's interview the other day that Madds and Grealish are genuine friends of Declan's and he really looks forward to hanging out with them in the international breaks. New friendships are formed, and I'm sure overseas players get to see family. These little things are important in life.

Then you analyse the international fixtures and barely any players are put through the grinder. There is loads of rotations and a constant stream of subs. It's an easier week than most weeks for these top players.

I think your last point is valid though. The 3 autumn monthly breaks seem a little too close together. I've never found a solution though.

I suppose thinking of a world without international football is where this is going. Scrapping it altogether because the money men have won. Instead we'd have club world cups, until they end up in the same place as the prior concept of playing for your country.
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International football is going nowhere, it's what keeps the administrators in vast salaries and luxury for achieving what organisers could easily achieve for a fraction of what it now costs...

The Next World Cup is planned to generate about £8 BILLION of revenue for FIFA and UEFA will generate around £1 billion from the Euro's.

As I said, international football is going nowhere; it's the cramming all the rest in despite domestic playing agendas where the problems lay.

All the time that the traditional domestic leagues and the regional cups exist, anything else will never take over.
 
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