The BBC football page today has details of the new UEFA Nations League. What is this for? It looks like a lot of games, relegation and promotion, and a load of complications. It also provides an extra way of qualifying for the Euros. Is it just a money making exercise ? I had never heard of it before ! What do you think ?
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UEFA Nations League
- Thread starter KS55
- Start date
It's intended to replace meaningless friendlies by making it a competition.
Essentially, if you hate international football, you'll hate this anyway. If you like it, you'll think it an improvement on irrelevant matches with nothing at stake.
Essentially, if you hate international football, you'll hate this anyway. If you like it, you'll think it an improvement on irrelevant matches with nothing at stake.
Yes, but not much. It's not an expansion on what is currently played overall. And personally, I think it's a good thing from an England perspective - we always complain how they lose in competitive matches to the best teams. Well, this will test them out rather than having a fine 1-0 win in a friendly that is irrelevant to anything.
leighton
Well-Known Member
I think this is maybe the best thing UEFA has come up with in a long long long time. They are trying to make everything competitive. Having teams playing against teams they are close to in the rankings should ideally mean close games between those teams. So teams in leagues C and D will be playing a regular lot of competitive games that will you would hope would then make them more competitive in the bigger games in the main World and Euro quailifers.
Also teams in A and B will not have that many games with it being only a 3 game groups so they could all arrange the so called friendly games if they wish to do so against other teams on match days when they dont have any league games to play. Its a step in the right direction for me.
Also teams in A and B will not have that many games with it being only a 3 game groups so they could all arrange the so called friendly games if they wish to do so against other teams on match days when they dont have any league games to play. Its a step in the right direction for me.
purplenose
Well-Known Member
No doubt international football needs to be restructured and this is at least the beginnings of an attempt to do so.
Certainly a never ending stream of fixtures against minnows intent on avoiding a humping is not doing much for the attendances and interest in TV coverage in major footballing nations such as Germany Spain Italy and England.
When you consider that the best clubs in those countries will play competitive matches against the best from other countries every season home and away, where the national teams will only meet each other in the odd game every 2 years or in the case of teams from a different continent every 4 in competition football.
In the last 10 years how many times have England played Germany in a competitive match....Once in the South Africa world cup? Italy twice? Spain not at all? Meanwhile City have and will no doubt locked horns with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and co on an annual basis.
I think ultimately it will involve doing away with the World Cup, Euros, African cup of failed states, South American championships and so on in their current formats.
A world championship of some kind played for on an annual or bi annual at least basis will in reality be the only way international football will be able to compete with club football. Even more so as club football becomes more globalised.
Certainly a never ending stream of fixtures against minnows intent on avoiding a humping is not doing much for the attendances and interest in TV coverage in major footballing nations such as Germany Spain Italy and England.
When you consider that the best clubs in those countries will play competitive matches against the best from other countries every season home and away, where the national teams will only meet each other in the odd game every 2 years or in the case of teams from a different continent every 4 in competition football.
In the last 10 years how many times have England played Germany in a competitive match....Once in the South Africa world cup? Italy twice? Spain not at all? Meanwhile City have and will no doubt locked horns with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and co on an annual basis.
I think ultimately it will involve doing away with the World Cup, Euros, African cup of failed states, South American championships and so on in their current formats.
A world championship of some kind played for on an annual or bi annual at least basis will in reality be the only way international football will be able to compete with club football. Even more so as club football becomes more globalised.
blue b4 the moon
Well-Known Member
Money making for the bigger countries and FIFA, smaller nations get fewer glamourous games.
citytilllidie
Well-Known Member
I've also read that the current ranking system is being abused. I think it was Romania initially, who noticed that if you don't play friendlies, you don't go too far down the rankings. I know Switzerland never play them and have a high ranking, although they're not bad anyway
The Black Shed
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This has echoes of the CL formatting. But where it differs (and improves in my eyes) is that the better teams are all in the same table and draw. The really small and amateur nations can put themselves against each other as a much fairer barometer of where they are in the food chain, what they need to do to improve. You can't get anywhere being walloped 6/7/8 nil. Mind you Luxembourg did win a game this year so there is hope. For England it should feel like an international version of the premier league and that should raise their game, but I somehow think at the moment we don't deserve to be in group A, all we've done for years is beat the likes of group C and D in qualifiers.