C'BOL is still cooperating with UEFA Finalissima Femenina Fecha: 13 al 25 de febrero (ventana FIFA Femenina) Sede: Europa They will do a women's Finalissima in Europe also.
I'd argue that the current Nations League outlook is about what we can expect for the near future, right? UEFA - On Tuesday, they announced adjustments to the men's int'l football calendar, shortening Euro & WC qualifiers to make room for more Nations League Specifically, more relegation playoffs and a quarterfinal round in League A. As well, those of us that suspected that the rumored invite to Conmebol sides was nothing more than a political ploy to scare Infantino off the biennial World Cup proposal can claim vindication: Tuesday's update makes no provision for guest teams whatsoever. Conmebol - Add in Conmebol keeping their WCQ league format, and the writing was on the wall. Domínguez has already ruled out Conmebol launching its own Nations League as redundant; I still maintain that there's room and incentive for a Pan-American Nations League, but it wouldn't happen any time soon even if Concacaf & Conmebol bury the hatchet. Concacaf - Montagliani's stated vision is to have back-to-back NL tournaments in the first two years of each WC cycle. I imagine Mexico and co. playing along with this is his price for negotiating their reentry into the Copa América; even so, I still anticipate some eventual pushback to having five Concacaf competitions every WC cycle (2 NLs + 2 Gold Cups + WCQ). AFC, CAF - No word on them launching their own NLs (either separately or together); and with FIFA giving up on trying to stitch together a global version, I wouldn't wait up on it happening anytime soon. OFC - Until travel conditions improve, it's unfeasible. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention UEFA and Concacaf committing to launching their respective Women's Nations League... although the latter's giving the US and Canada direct byes to the Final Four
UEFA women's NL will also be used as qualification for the Olympics, starting with the 2023/24 edition.
Well, I for one welcome the UNL expansion. I always thought the potential Conmebol addition was more of a political stunt.
If the need arises to counter the bi-annual robbery, when you don't need to play WC qualifiers, you can easily slot in extra teams.
AFC have already announced their qualification programme for WC26 and AC27 and it's pretty much filled up the calendar. Someone on Wikipedia (copied below) has posted a proposed schedule based on AFC's announcement of the format and the FIFA Calendar staying pretty much as it is and there aren't any spare dates for a nations League. The losers of the 1st round (11 nations) will be free for a league or tournament amongst themselves. 36 nations participate in round 2, 18 nations participate in round 3. The 18 nations (along with 6 of those eliminated in the 1st round) will participate in Asian Cup qualifying to determine the final 5 or 6 nations at the Asian Cup 2027. Maybe a nations league could be squeezed in to the gap between the 2026 WC and the 2027 AC but what would be the point with the Asian Cup just around the corner.
IMHO, this was a huge mistake by C'bol. UEFA's NL represented strong competition for every team in C'bol and huge financial success. At this point C'caf would bring financial success but won't provide the same level of competition. I hope C'caf gets a permanent 4 spot invite for Copa America (to be played in SA) but really wouldn't commit to a joint NL, rather take my chances scheduling friendlies with whomever is free (ex-UEFA).
Nations League Europe/CONMEBOL combo thing would have been fun in theory but it would have probably gotten stale because all the games would have been in Europe. The PanAmerican Nations League would have been good for CONCACAF but South American teams and fans just do not get hyped up for matches like that unless it is a friendly in Miami or NJ.
Not sure why playing in Europe would diminish a joint NL. IMHO, it would be a WC light, with great infrastructure and stadium. Playing in Portugal (Brazil), Spain (SA team ex- Brazil and Argentina) and Italy (Argentina) would fell like home.
Yes, Brazil, Argentina , Peru and Colombia would have felt at home in Europe with fans taking over stadiums. It is the other Countries that would be affected. Who wants to see Estonia- Venezuela or Bolivia- Kazakhstan? Also, South American fans in South America would see it as stale obviously because they would want to see those matches in South America.
...so, I was wrong: there is a significant update. The next edition of the Concacaf Nations League (2023-24) will now serve as qualifying for the next Copa América Conmebol and Concacaf have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to strengthen and develop football in both regions.→ 2024 CONMEBOL Copa America→ 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup→ New club competitionMore info 🔗 https://t.co/9q6iMhcj7p pic.twitter.com/CqQ41adHYw— Concacaf (@Concacaf) January 27, 2023
That Guatemala-French Guiana game is huge I'm pretty sure the Copa América berths will only be available up in League A, so promotion is crucial.
No one know the format of this now defunct NL. But I some speculation pointed C'bol teams competing in league A and league B. While Venezuela and Bolivia is not a hot ticket these team would have access to quality competition on a regular basis. It would provide them with much needed competition - These teams are invited for many friendlies and don't have the star power to make teams play them at home.
This didn't age well... 2024 Copa America to be played in the US . At least they will expand Copa America. New club competition! why and to be played when, I rather see 4 C'caf team entering Libertadores as guest. C'bol top brass focusing on $$ instead of the game, again...
Wait, so they are going to be play another Nations League right after the current edition? I was under the impression that the next edition was going to be in 2024-2025
We have to beat Belize away and French Guiana at home by a good goal difference. I hope we can do it! Nations League just became very relevant.
Just a thought I've had but has the UEFA nation's League been a positive for the 2nd tier Euro nations? The last world cup saw those nations struggle with a number of teams from CONCACAF, AFC and CAF outperforming them. My own nation had, much to my surprise, it's best world cup in history. We also had what I would call our weakest squad in terms of individual players since the 1980s. Has the lack of cross confederation competition blinded these second tier Euro nations to what is going on elsewhere? Has the NL and its closed competition given them a false sense of superiority? Is it just a statistical anomaly helped by having a world cup away from its normal season and in a new location? Perhaps the lack of friendlies and the desire of second tier nations to compete against the best teams (particularly if in league 1) is possibly stopping some experimentation in tactics and playing force that friendlies provide making it harder for these second tier teams to regenerate leading to stagnation and a decline. I'm not really sure of the answers to any of these questions, but I do think that running 2 leagues between world cups along with a Euro in the middle is confusing issues in UEFA. Does UEFA really need 3 different teams that can claim they are Champions between world cups.
The only teams that wasn't league A on 2020-21 NL and went to the WC was Wales (will play league A on 2022/2023) and Serbia (still on league B). I think both teams improved. Wales reached the WC and Serbia had a decent WC show. IMHO, the game is created and developed at the club level. There is no doubt that Europe is the center of club soccer. It is were new systems and tactics and created, tested and perfected. UEFA NTs are getting stronger, but there is a ceiling. I don't think the top will be able to walk over Brazil and Argentina. But I do think that the second tier (still play on league A) will get stronger and they do benefit from UEFA's NL. But league B teams usually are from relative small countries so they have a very limited player pool to chose from.
You're thinking of the UEFA cadence. In Concacaf, the preference is to play 2 NLs, yes, but back-to-back in the first 2 years of the cycle, leaving the last two years free for WCQ.
All good questions... or is it simply that UEFA teams tend not to travel well for World Cups? See: terrible outings by their standards in 2014 & 2022 sandwiching a de facto Euro 2018. Strongly disagree on Serbia: in recent years, they dumped Haaland's Norway out of the Euros and stole their promotion to League A, either side of beating Portugal to the direct WC berth. How a team like that views a last-place group finish in the WC as anything other than a failure is beyond me. I mean, Poland had their best WC in ages But I dunno - even with the world football calendar still working out the kinks from the post-lockdown restarts, I'm hard-pressed to explain how Italy and Denmark have looked so consistently good in UEFA competitions, only to stink it up in the World Cup (qualifying, in the former's case).
Also the CONCACAF NL was originally set up to finish in even years, the opposite of the Gold Cup. COVID and the unusual 2022 WC schedule threw everything out of place, so it looks like they're returning to the intended pattern.
I'm sorry but I see little evidence of this. stronger in relation to what ? I mean I would say that a lot of 2nd and 3rd tier teams are improving WORLDWIDE, but I certainly wouldn't say this is limited to UEFA. I also dont see UEFA getting stronger in relation to any other confederation either. Like Almango pointed out. This past WC shows that UEFA if anything IS GETTING WORSE compared to the ROW.
You are looking at one point evidence, hard to say if this WC was an outlier or if this is a new trend. Just like some ppl said C'bol was finished after 2018 all European final. But I also shouldn't argue that UEFA teams are getting better due to NL. The rise of France, England, Croatia isn't due to NL play. I am biased towards UEFA NL that is clear. Time will tell. I do think they created a system that will foster competition and development compared to other Federations. C'bol has only 10 teams and other Federation do not have (at this point in time) the same number of top teams (global powers).