Nations League

[Cobs]

WTF is going on here then?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/42800971

 

 

when was this all decided?

Edited January 24, 2018 by Cobs

[Cobs]

Nations League: League D completed

First ever League drawn

Group 1: Andorra, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Georgia.

Group 2: San Marino, Moldova, Luxembourg, Belarus.

Group 3: Kosovo, Malta, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan

Group 4: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Macedonia.

[Billy Talbot]

Scotland in one of the weird groups of 3. 

[Cobs]

Nations League: League C completed

Group 1: Israel, Albania, Scotland.

Group 2: Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary.

Group 3: Cyprus, Bulgaria, Norway, Slovenia.

Group 4: Lithuania, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania.

Rep of Ireland & Wales together again

Nations League: League B

Group 1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia.

Group 2: Turkey, Sweden, Russia.

Group 3: Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria.

Group 4: Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Wales.

England have Croatia & Spain

Nations League: League A

League A completed

Group 1: Netherlands, France, Germany.

Group 2: Iceland, Switzerland, Belgium.

Group 3: Poland, Italy, Portugal.

Group 4: Croatia, England, Spain

More specific Nations League timeline

Matchday 1: 6–8 September 2018

Matchday 2: 9–11 September 2018

Matchday 3: 11–13 October 2018

Matchday 4: 14–16 October 2018

Matchday 5: 15–17 November 2018

Matchday 6: 18–20 November 2018

Nations League Finals draw: early December 2018

Nations League Finals: 5–9 June 2019

Uefa EURO 2020 play-off draw: 22 November 2019

Uefa EURO 2020 play-offs: 26–31 March 2020

The Nations League finals will be in June 2019, hosted in one of the country’s which qualifies for the final. Before that, Nations League matches start in September, October and November 2018 – basically the traditional international break.

In among all that will be the Euro 2020 qualification process.

The theory is that it should offer more competitive matches between nations ranked together more closely, and a Nations League finals every two years in between World Cups and European Championships.

But the big prize is that lower-ranked nations will get a play-off spot guaranteed for Euro 2020 where they will avoid higher-ranked teams.

Scotland for example, are ranked third in League C, so should have a decent chance of reaching their first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup should they not qualify via the traditional route of Euro 2020 qualifying. Given that they will be hosting four Euro 2020 games at Hampden Park, the prize could be a large one.

[Billy Talbot]

Holland, France, Germany is a bit of a cracker. 

[cymrococh]

 

Rep of Ireland & Wales together again

Nations League: League B

Group 1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia.

Group 2: Turkey, Sweden, Russia.

Group 3: Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria.

Group 4: Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Wales.

 

Denmark as well for Ireland, 1 easy away to get to anyway.

Edited January 24, 2018 by cymrococh

[Jarg Armani]

Is this real?

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Attendances in the hundreds. Maybe even thousands.

 

Including TV audiences

[Hightown Phil]

Attendances in the hundreds. Maybe even thousands.

 

Including TV audiences

 

You reckon hundreds of people are going to watch Spain v England on telly?

[muleskinner]

What's the point of this, is it getting rid of the interminable s*** qualifiers that endlessly injure our players?

[dorgie]

What's the point of this, is it getting rid of the interminable s*** qualifiers that endlessly injure our players?

Getting rid of friendlies apparently.

[The Hitman]

League of Nations. Sensible Soccer. Brilliant.

[Conrad]

Getting rid of friendlies apparently.

so, when its 6 months before a world cup and england want to practice facing say an African or South American side, they won't be able to - they'll have to play Croatia or something? (and let's say croatia are in england's group at the WC)

[Hightown Phil]

so, when its 6 months before a world cup and england want to practice facing say an African or South American side, they won't be able to - they'll have to play Croatia or something? (and let's say croatia are in england's group at the WC)

 

No, it won't be being played 6 months before a World Cup.

[cymrococh]

Attendances in the hundreds. Maybe even thousands.

 

Including TV audiences

I bet this increases attendances.

[Conrad]

No, it won't be being played 6 months before a World Cup.

So, there will still be friendlies arranged when its not being played?

[Hightown Phil]

So, there will still be friendlies arranged when its not being played?

 

Yeah. 

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

You reckon hundreds of people are going to watch Spain v England on telly?

 

Depends how seriously it's taken

 

Bet Andorra vs Kazakhstan will be sold out 

[Hassony]

Might be in a minority here, but I like this

 

Will no doubt change my mind once VVD gets injured against France

[Hightown Phil]

Depends how seriously it's taken

 

Bet Andorra vs Kazakhstan will be sold out 

 

Well it's part of qualifying for tournaments, so probably pretty seriously. 

[cymrococh]

Might be in a minority here, but I like this

Might be in a minority here, but I agree with Hassony.

[growler]

We still going to have an international break 5 weeks after World Cup final?

 

And still going to treat August - november as the international season with an occasional break for domestic football?

[libero]

Would make sense for the SFA to arrange the games in this at stadiums other than Hampden. Cant see there being much of an atmospere/crowd at the home games.Take these games to Easter Road or Pittodrie then at least have half a chance of getting a crowd. Nothing worse than 20 odd thousand spread out at Hampden.

[Ombudsam]

Is this real?

Ha! My thoughts summarised better than I could have done.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Might be in a minority here, but I like this

 

Will no doubt change my mind once VVD gets injured against France

I'm with you on this one Hass.

I hate international friendlies, cos club comes first, and these unnecessary friendly matches cause injuries to our players, especially during the crucial and busy Autumn/Winter months. But an actual competition is definitely something I'd follow.