Yeah, League C is probably the worst league to be in to qualify for Euro 2020. League D is better for the reason you mentioned. League B is probably better too because more than 4 teams from League "B" will probably advance to the final four competition that detmines the last 4 Euro 2020 qualifiers (since all or almost all of league A teams will have qualified directly).
UEFA hasn't had 10 groups since Euro 2004 Qualifying, but 55 teams in 9 groups would require a group of 7, which requires 4 more matchdays than a group of 6, so 10 groups makes sense.
Yup makes sense for Euro 2020 qualifying since 20 teams qualify - works out perfectly. Although 10 groups would be problematic for World cup qualifying. It would leave only 3 WC spots for the 10 second-place teams in each group to fight for.
Here are the NT’s that moved to a higher league position this past week: Iceland: B -> A France C-> B Azerbaijan D-> C Estonia D -> C And those that moved down: Wales A -> B Turkey B->C Belarus C->D Cyprus C->D
The intent is to hold the Nations League tournament ahead of World Cups as well ... FIFA will have their say (e.g. about the UNL play-off spots) ... they already will want to push their FIFA ranking for WC events (a certain beverage company will take issue if the Nations League rankings will determine the composition of the draw pots instead).
True, but it would pretty much be up to UEFA to determine the format for the 13 nations that qualify for the WC, right? I guess they could then use the NL to help with that. In a way using NL ranking to determine which are the "Best 2nd-place teams" in qualifying would be better than just randomly eliminating 1 or more of those second-place group finishers like they do now.
Nah, I'm pretty sure FIFA requires FIFA's stupid rankings be used for World Cup seeding. Note that UEFA has its own coefficient system to determine pots for Euro qualification...but uses FIFA rankings for World Cup qualification - even though countries like Wales and Romania clearly gamed the system by not playing friendlies. That's why you see the absurdity of Spain and Italy in a group together.
We're not that sick, just not the cream of the crop in Europe anymore. But only Germany, France, Spain and maybe Belgium belong to that category. Those are the teams that should breeze through the qualification stages right now. The qualification for EURO 2016 was awful for us but filled with injuries and bad luck. Of course, there are some quality issues and yes, we are in a transition period at the moment. But at least we play a bit better now than we did last qualification cycle so that's at least positive. We belong just outside the top 10 in my opinion. ELO ratings are better than FIFA rankings (a joke) and we are ranked 14th on that which is about right.
Here are the NT’s that moved to a higher league position this past weekend: France: B -> A Turkey C-> B Cyprus D->C And those that moved down: Austria A -> B Albania B->C Estonia C->D
2018–19 UEFA Nations League - inaugural season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_UEFA_Nations_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Nations_League
Bit of a gap opening-up between 11th and 12th in the UEFA rankings. Of course Russia will drop like a stone, but in the short-term only one spot in league ‘A’ is up for grabs. - Iceland play at Kosovo so should retain the last spot in league “A”. - NED play away to Bulgaria which could be tricky. - Austria are home to Moldova: maximum points expected - Ireland and Wales play head-to-head in Ireland - Ukraine are in Croatia - Hungary also with a tough match – in Portugal. So there may only be 3 NTs still within striking range of league ‘A’ after this weekend (NED, Austria and winner of Ireland-Wales match).
Since Iceland won, no teams moved in or out of league 'A' this past weekend. Even the tentative seeding in league 'A' remained the same. Although Portugal did move from #4 to #2 overall with Belgium's draw and Russia's lack of games. Only two NTs changed their tentative league status: League 'B' to 'C': Romania League 'C' to 'B': No. Ireland
This news is mostly about the South American tournament, Copa America, but it does contain a bit of info about the League of Nations. I apologize for this post for those not interested. Have a good one everyone! After reading various online legitimate newspapers on this matter (both in English and Spanish; from both South American and Europe), I'm 99% sure that this is how it's going to go down from now until the next 2 decades at least... Starting with this upcoming 2019 Copa America, which will be held in Brasil, all future tournaments will have 16 nations participating. The tournament in Brasil will be the last one that will be held in an odd year. In order to 'reset' the tournament right away and have it coincide with the Euro (apparently FIFA is in favor of this because European clubs will have to release their international players only one summer instead of two consecutive summers), they will have a Copa America in 2020 in the USA (because, among others things, of their financial success with the Copa America Centenario 2016). As for those who are questioning what kind of teams will the European nations bring for 2019, I think that being how this Copa America will probably be the only and last tournament (at least for while) that will have European nations, I'm thinking that these nations would love to 'steal' one from South America; wouldn't that be a punch in the face, especially in Brasil of all place. Anyway, going forward, Conmebol will introduce a new scheduling format as to who will host the subsequent Copa Americas, which on a personal level, gives me hope... IMHO, Bolivia's 'rotational' spot was taken away unfairly and so I hope this 'reset' will give Bolivia an opportunity to get it back and get it back soon... hopefully as soon as 2024! If this is accurate, then I don't think there will be another 'Copa America Centenario' for a while (at least by name, host, and if it would ever return) but I think the 2020 Copa America will mirror the Centenario from 2016 and it will be just a great, if not better, since it will once again not 'compete' with the Gold Cup so USA, Mexico, and other North and/or Central American nations could bring their 'A' team if they chose to do so. In fact, since the Copa America would now fall in an even year, USA, Mexico, and company could continue to bring their 'A' team (again, if they chose to do so). From a level of play standpoint, I think this a great move as every continental tournament will potentially have the 'A' team for every participant. What's more, starting in 2020, when we don't have the summer of the World Cup, we can enjoy two tournaments of nations every summer and it would most likely be more competitive than before. This 'guaranteed' 2 tourneys every summer (with the highest level of play) would include the League of Nations that Europe will be introducing in 2018. It will be a promotion/relegation type of tournament that will have it's 'pool stage' from September to November and it's 'Final Four' competition in June. There are talks of Concacaf (and I'm sure Conmebol would soon follow afterwards) in creating their own League of Nations. If this happens (I'm sure it will), this will be eliminate 'friendlies' and their 'lack of importance. All those events plus the World Cup qualifying matches, it pretty much guarantees a higher level of competition/tournaments for us to enjoy every year. To get a visual idea of what I'm talking about, this is what it would look like... 2017 Gold Cup / Confederations Cup 2018 World Cup / League of Nations (UEFA Pool Stage) 2019 Copa America Brasil / Gold Cup / League of Nations (UEFA Final Four) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020 Copa America USA / Euro 2021 Gold Cup / Confederations Cup 2022 World Cup / League of Nations (UEFA Pool Stage) 2023 Gold Cup / League of Nations (UEFA Final Four) 2024 Copa America / Euro 2025 Gold Cup / Confederations Cup 2026 World Cup / League of Nations (UEFA Pool Stage)
So no change in the composition of league "A" or league "B" after last weekend's matches. Starting to look like the current composition of league "A" is how its going to be for the 2018-19 Nations League, except of course Russia will inevitably fall out meaning there is at least one place that will go to a nation currently in "B". Wales have a favorable schedule ahead so might see them take Russia's place. The only movements last weekend were Belarus (D -> C) and Azerbaijan (C -> D)
So by my calculations these NTs have clinched a spot in League "A" for the inaugural NL: Germany, Portugal, France, Belgium, Spain, England, Switzerland and Italy. And those 8 will almost certainly make-up pots 1 and 2 in the draw. Poland is almost assured league "A" status and Croatia is a pretty safe bet as well. If Iceland beat Kosovo at home I think they are in league "A"(?). That leaves 1 spot totally up for grabs in the last two matchdays. Russia currently holds that spot but of course Russia don't play any more games. Countries that can catch Russia: Wales, the Netherlands, Slovakia, No. Ireland, Sweden, Ukraine, B & H, and Austria. Meanwhile, Romania & Czech Republic have dropped to a league "C" position after a string of bad results. Lithuania just dropped to league "D" after Azerbaijan's recent victory. The top of league "D" is of course the ideal place to be if you want to qualify for Euro 2020. Unfortunately, Lithuania have a game in Malta coming up so they might move up to league "C" again unless they throw that match.
My only question is, how do they determine "the next best-ranked team in the league" for picking the 4 teams in each league to play for the final Euro 2020 spots? IOW, what are the NL rankings?
I had that same question when I reading it. It doesn't say and if they don't know now, they got about a year to figure it out.
I think I read somewhere else that the so-called "NL ranking" will also be used in future to seed the Euros (both the qualifying draw as well as the final tournament draw). I guess that would be starting with the Euro 2020 final draw (since the first NL ranking won't be known until after Euro 2020 qualifying begins.)