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What is that all about then? I don't really follow the news or read newspapers, I'm in my own little bubble except for the fishy.. Is this a new thing or what? At first I thought it was womens football or something until checked Wales and see Bale and Co!

Asked the same question today. F**k knows.

It's an attempt to make international football outside of major tournaments and qualifiers more interesting. It won't.

Ahhh, now I understand ::) :-/ ??)................https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45437323

(confused1)(eek)(fool)(icon_question)(surrender)(wallbash2)(Confused)(shock)(nono)(no)(fool)(bored)

Pretty sure that captures my full emotional range whilst trying to listen and decipher that simple guide ..... or did somebody post a link to the new Davinci Code movie instead ??

It sounds so fcked up i presume Shaun Harvey was our rep at the UEFA meeting when that one was dreamt up !

So now we can't even choose who to play in friendlies, we are told who we play outside of the World Cup and Euros.

I would like to ask footballs governing bodies who is it that they serve, and what their objectives are. It seems to me that making as much money out of the game as possible and sharing it out amongst their cronies is their prime aim. Sod everyone else.

The (footballing) world has gone mad.

A safety net to ensure teams like Italy and Holland never fail to qualify again.

Quoted from Rik e B

A safety net to ensure teams like Italy and Holland never fail to qualify again.

Doubt it will help them. It was the World Cup they didn’t qualify for.

Quoted from Rik e B

A safety net to ensure teams like Italy and Holland never fail to qualify again.

They didn’t design it very well putting the Dutch with ze Germans and the French

It's coming home. 8)

Quoted from lukeo

What is that all about then? I don't really follow the news or read newspapers, I'm in my own little bubble except for the fishy.. Is this a new thing or what? At first I thought it was womens football or something until checked Wales and see Bale and Co!

http://bfy.tw/GDLQ

I'm guessing this will mean no more games with 73 subs coming on in the second half, so I'm all for it.

Quoted Text

With the European Championships expanding to 24 teams for Euro 2020, qualification has, in UEFA’s own words, been ‘streamlined’. It begins in March 2019, and there will be the usual ten groups, five containing five teams and five containing six. The top two in each group will qualify automatically for Euro 2020, leaving four spots to be filled.

Which is where the Nations League comes in. The last four places will be decided by play-offs in March 2020, and each Nations League will provide one of the qualifying countries.

Each league has four spots to allocate for the play-offs, with group winners given first priority. If they have already qualified for Euro 2020 through the usual means (as is likely in League A), their place will be handed down to the next highest-ranked team from their league (so not necessarily their group) which has not already qualified. And if they cannot find enough teams for the play-offs from a certain league (as is likely in League A), then they will go and grab some teams from a lower league to make up the numbers.

The four teams will then play two one-off semi-finals and one final in March 2020 to decide the qualifier from each league.

The Nations League therefore gives every team in League D an alternative route to the European Championships – congratulations to Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino or Gibraltar – and pretty much provides a safety net for the bigger, under-performing countries.

[url]
https://www.football365.com/news/so-what-the-f-is-the-uefa-nations-league-2[/url]

Winning group D and qualifying for the euros is like getting a champions league spot for winning league 2!

It's the international version of the Checkatrade Trophy

Personally, I thought it was a good initiative to improve the abysmal world of international friendlies.

I'm not sure if it'll make me watch anymore in the short term. But it adds accountably, which traditional one off friendlies don't give. Can only improve a nations willingness to put on good performances.

I went to Wales v Ireland last night. I wondered if they would play 100% as it had generally been labelled as a glorified friendly beforehand but it was actually a really good game and atmosphere for the neutral. Wales tactically and technically were excellent and well worth their half-time lead and victory at full-time. The Bale goal was worth the entrance fee alone.

It makes sense to go for it as you have the opportunity to qualify against teams of a similar ranking to you rather than the seeded play-offs in normal qualifying if you can't/don't win the group.

25,000 just over in attendance at Cardiff City Stadium.

To be fair it makes for tastier matches -we'll be playing the bigger boys of a similar ilk to ourselves with the matches holding meaning, however small, as a backup in case normal qualifying goes t!ts up.

Therein lies your safety net.

The cynic in me says the money men at UEFA desperately want all the famous names on show at the big tournament to make more of a spectacle, for viewing figures etc but it does make for more interesting viewing for us higher rated teams along the way.

Quoted from Rik e B

The cynic in me says the money men at UEFA desperately want all the famous names on show at the big tournament to make more of a spectacle, for viewing figures etc .

You'd think making it a 24 team tournament would already solve that, but Holland still managed to balderdash it up last time! (although do they have any big names these days?)

HT...... England 1-2 Spain