Interesting new concept by UEFA to be implemented after Russia 2018: http://www.uefa.org/about-uefa/orga...s/newsid=2079556.html#nations+league+approved Will other confederations follow suit?
This competition will prevent non-UEFA teams from having opportunities to play against the UEFA sides in the friendly matches. I don't think FIFA will let UEFA run it.
FIFA has no say in this and there will still be opportunities for cross-confederation play (although not as many) Personally I find it a very interesting concept. Does it make sense for other confederations? How will the Nations League be treated for the FIFA ranking? Does it cap-tie players (I imagine so)
I like this idea, and in fact in the future i see FIFA adopting it and having it on a world scale. Now, I might be wrong, but i think FIFA mooted some kind of idea back in the late 90's running along the lines of a cup knockout competition for each and every confederation so practically cancel out friendlies and make every game competitive until of course you was knocked out. This UEFA competition could effectively kill what I like though. Until now, it's very rare for example, England to play a Italy or Spain unless it really matters, with this idea they could be playing more frequently to the point of boredom. Before, they don't meet in qualification groups so at a finals it's special, this league format would take off the gloss of a world/euro championship finals. For me, it's a good idea but what becomes of a world cup really unless nations outside of Europe/South America really up their game?
I think with the promotion/relegation and the fact that I expect the groupings within a division to change annually the risk of getting bored by too many matches against the same opponent is rather low. Hopefully 2 or even 4 teams relegate and promote annually.
South America won't be implementing this for obvious reasons (only 10 teams, already a jam packed qualifying schedule, Copa America ). I mean, I guess they could consider it if it were played on a Neutral site (Miami) with teams that qualified to the the World Cup an play it the fall/winter of 2018. But I don't think it would be something they necessarily want to add to their agenda. CONCACAF won't be implementing this cause they like having Gold Cups every two years. They also have beefed up the Central American Cup to be played during this time period UEFA will be doing this.
We can make a "League America". USA, Canada and Mexico have free time because they are already qualifiqed to the Gold Cup; Argentina, Colombia and Brazil are already qualifiked to Copa America, just use 10 friendly dates during 2016 and 2017, 2 year-long is the maximus to not become boring or unconected, or a 1 year 5 dates system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._men's_soccer_records_(2010–19)#2013USA did play 7 friendlies in 2013, 5 against euros nations. In rugby every year they a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Nations_Championship with de same teams and very good attendance Conmebol FIFA WC qualification is only 20 dates in 4 years, so SAmerica have space to play many other games, for the right price/prize.
The format hasn't been finalized ... possibly relegating & promoting sides will enter into play-offs ... e.g. top tier consists of 4 groups (3 NTs in each group): the 3rd placed NTs would play against the group winners of tier 2. Also it isn't clear if the UEFA NT rankings will be used once in 2018 (from that moment onwards only promotion/relegation) ... the rankings could still be used to decide in which tier/division NTs are placed alongside promotion/relegation ... or maybe just to award top-seed positions and assign NTs to pots for the (group) draw. The idea is to organize the UNL in WC cycles too ... so from 2018 onwards we can watch a final event every summer (either WC, EURO or UNL final 4 competitions) ... UEFA would need approval to determine World Cup berths though (maybe UEFA will also have to use FIFA's ranking during these cycles). - DW.de
A combined Confederation system could work in theory but it would depend on if both confederations can come to an agreement. As I said before, I am not sure the CONMEBOL wants to add more of a work load on the schedule. People have to keep in mind friendly dates are friendly dates. They are important for many managers when it comes to experimentation and preparation for the long marathon that is the South American qualifiers. When those friendly dates are used to experiment and bring in 6 players off the bench it gives valuable time to those who otherwise not might play in official matches with only 3 substitutions..
Christ on a bike. When Platini is done he'll have made Blatter look like Mother Theresa...and that takes some doing.
the Ice Hockey WC have promotion and relegation every year, but the home and away games gonna be the heart of the UNL. If they do it right, it can "kill" the FIFAWC2022 in Qatar, UEFA nations can just renounce to his spots. Each year the best 16 teams split in 4 groups, play 3 home games and 3 away games and finally the semifinal and final in a fixed host place, the worst team in each group get relegated and reemplazed the next year. The sad thing is it have not the world (32 teams "is the world") comming to one place to see the world best football and Crown the world Champion, but it still have the best football and the champion.
The (now official) European Nations League will definitely have an impact on other confederations, because the higher level of regular (and meaningful) competition will make the top European nations that much stronger in the World Cup. It will also make the lower-level nations stronger. Games featuring big nations against Mickey Mouse teams didn't do anyone any good. Now the likes of Andorra and San Marino can gradually get better by playing against other nations at their own level, instead of getting hammered 20-0 every time they take the field. I expect Conmebol will soon follow suit, by splitting their WC qualifying into two tiers.
Both WC and Euro qualifying still exist. San Marino will still lose by 10 goals. They are only restriced to games against other minnows in the Nations League. San Marino will never play better anyway. They have 32.000 inhabitants. There's no potential for improvement.
You're of course right about WC and Euro qualifying. (Sorry if my post gave the impression that it would replace them - although hopefully in time it will.) My basic point was that this new league will strengthen European teams at all levels, which is bad news for the other confederations. Getting the minnows out of the qualifying procedure might sound overly Darwinian to our more politically correct friends, but pragmatism is more evolutionarily beneficial than sentimentality.
Let's see how it goes. The minnows should still get their gamour ties against the big associations but perhaps it could be reduced to only WC qualifying? As for not getting the chance to experiment, nothing prepares a team for competitive games like......competitive games. I have witnessed enough worthless friendlies featuring Switzerland to know that all the "experiments" didn't make us any better.
When you have 6 subs it can help you evaluate more talent within game situations. When you have 3 and it is a competitive match you are less likely to experiment and you have less players to see on the field obviously.
The format favors the big European football nations and hurts the small ones that will have to win too many games to make it to the world cup now. []__[]
*Wheep* *Wheeeep* ***Fact-free-opinion Alert*** >> The format, as far as it has been communicated and decided upon at the moment, does not even lead to WC qualification!
That's my point. Such (often) slow-paced, substitution laden matches hardly provide the testing environment to properly evaluate a player. It's so far removed from a competitive match that I question the very sense of it. Not to mention the usually painful viewing experience as a spectator. I only see value in friendlies right before a major tournament. When the team is together for a number of days.
Hi David, you said: " (...) My basic point was that this new league will strengthen European teams at all levels, which is bad news for the other confederations. (...)" Hence my question. Which wasn't really a question of course. ;-)