Impact of Nations Leagues (UEFA original, Concacaf) on World Football? [Multiple R]

I think it would be more of a game changer if for instance the last 4 of the copa libertadores would be allowed to join in the UEFA CL.

 

No, that would be impossible and also meaningless.

1) the money will always be in the top european leagues. The best south american players will always be there as well. Has CL changed anything for russian, ukrainian, turkish, greek, etc. football? No.

2) the top 4 of copa Libertadores will almost always be brazilian/argentinian clubs, so at best you just would change a few things only for the two countries that need it the least.

3) european teams simply refuse to travel to south america. Conmebol NTs are already accepting to play UEFA NL without hosting any games. For clubs I don't think european teams would be any more lenient, thus, it would be impracticable since south american clubs have national leagues to attend to. They can't do intercontinental travel every week.

 

If the last 4 of the Copa would join the last 4 of the CL it would mean (in case a Copa team beats it's first UCL opponent) 2 matches in Europe and 2 in SA and dependent on where the final is played yes or no a 3d match. Seems doable to me.

 

Oh you mean like an expanded club WC? Even more pointless.
All 4 south american clubs will lose inmediately with 95% certainty and that will be it.

And, again, how does that help Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, etc. in any way?

 

At this point in time, the European clubs financial advantage is just significant for C'BOL teams to compete. C'BOL's teams might be able to upset a top UEFA team once in a blue moon but can't compete on a league. We need money at the club level to be able to keep up.

I think UEFA + C'BOL NL can be a game change for C'BOL national teams. IMHO it will help all C'BOL national teams to raise their game.

 

Ajax had/has about 1/5th of the budgets or less than the clubs it did beat in their CL run that lasted just seconds too long in the semi final or they made it into the final, so it's not that deterministic regarding opportunities to beat the big money clubs.

The NL isnot a big money spinner, it's intended to make teams compete with likewise level teams, so they donot get trashed like in the "normal" Euro/WC qualification rounds.
So I wonder how much benefit there will be from a combined NL.

 

Even England, the richest FA in Europe, couldn't get more revenue from their TV deal and were guaranteed a better deal in the NL. For smaller sides, like Bolivia or Venezuela, there's even more of an upside (marginal gains of extra revenue and they'd never be able to generate as much on their own as they'd make in the NL). The NL would get a growth spurt when UEFA and CONMEBOL join forces and as it's still in its infancy it has plenty of growth potential to unlock.

A lot of CONMEBOL players ply their trade in Europe; so they'd have to travel less during international breaks; getting the same benefit as UEFA players wrt wear and tear, travel, climate, and so on (also no games at 1,859,715 metres above sea level for example). You'd expect better performances from them (and during World Cups they wouldn't have been drained as much).

CONMEBOL teams could very well take the NL more serious than UEFA teams. Sounds like they really want a shot at beating the big European sides. The benefit for CONMEBOL teams is definitely bigger than for UEFA ones. UEFA teams already have plenty of competition without the addition of CONMEBOL teams to the NL while CONMEBOL teams can hardly get a friendly against UEFA teams since the creation of the NL. In case a CONMEBOL team wins a group containing potential hosts the NL Finals will most likely be held in that South American country and they'd get full home field advantage (wouldn't be a surprise if they get crowds in for their group games in Europe as well; just have to pick the best spot).

 

To tell you the truth I don't see what good comes out of Conmebol joining the Uefa Nations League, footballistically speaking for Conmebol. It looks like just another money grab to me that some hustler thought of. Our players already play in Europe. They know how Europeans play. Our coaches see them play every weekend. Are you going to tell me that by getting the players together 3 or 4 times a year and playing against a bunch of subs "our" national teams are going to get better? And they have to play in Europe to boot?
I just don't see it.
And remember that if South Americans are not playing Europeans, that means that (oh the revelation!) Europeans are not playing South Americans either. So not playing each other affects us but not them?
I think we have to look in the mirror and fix the plague of corruption affecting "our football" before we look elsewhere for "help".
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just an aside: I looked up the term footballistically to see if that word existed in English and I found this:

What is Footballistically?
1.
Word coined by Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal FC football club of London, England. Footballistically is used to mean

1. in terms of football (the actual action of playing)

2. football-wise

Arsene Wenger? wtf?

 

I see a huge benefit for SA national teams to have access to schedule recurrent strong competition. Sure the best players do play at the clubs. But:

1) Not every SA country has all their national team players in Europe best leagues and teams.

2) Club game is very different than national game. You do need strong competition at national team level to be able to reach higher levels. A collective of very good 11 players with little to no cohesion as a team would be an easy prey for a well trained team of 11 average to good players.

3) The size of UEFA allow them to play among themselves and still provide good competition for their member. In contrast, C'BOL is too narrow. There isn't real competition for Brazil or Argentina at the moment. Likewise there isn't appropriate level of competition for Venezuela and Bolivia.

I see C'BOL as having a 5 very distinct tiers. I don't see any benefits to any of the team playing each other. On a neutral ground lower level teams do not challenge higher level teams. Access to UEFA NL would provide real competitive game to every team.

1 - Arg/Bra
2 - Uru/Col
3 - Per/Chi
4 - Ecu/Par
5 - Ven/Bol

 

What do you mean by corruption, at which level and what are their actual impact that constrain the region progress?

I think this perceived "corruption" at C'BOL level is more imaginary than real. C'BOL were able to significantly raise the monetary prize of Libertadores. Furthermore, they run successful men's and women's competition which support the growth and development of the region. Sure there are actual corruption at the club level but these aren't C'BOL responsibility to fix.

 

It's there, CA, wedged between June and September 2024.

 

That would ruin the UEFA CL!

What might be a good idea for National Team football doesn't necessarily work for club football. Look at World cup versus Club World Cup.

 

Sounds good. Agree with most of your comments here.

League A unironically looks like a better tournament than the expanded World Cup. Hell, replace Israel and Bosnia with Mexico and Egypt, and that would have passed for the actual World Cup back in the day.

 

I don't believe FIFA would sanction a UEFA-Conmebol NL without it being part of FIFA's own NL.

UEFA is also in the process of revamping the preliminary competition for the EC from the 2028 edition which will feature 32 teams (subject to confirmation), so the structure of qualifying for continental championships and probably WCs will probably alter quite a bit when the new IMC post-2024 is approved.

 

Yeah, I'm sure FIFA will do everything they can to stop the joint NL project (sadly).

Btw I forgot to mention before but it would seem that Conmebol federations have finally decided to keep the current qualification format for the WC. It will start already in March.
All of this is unofficial info for now but it's been reported by a few journalists already.

It will be a shitshow with some teams likely qualifying halfway through its duration but money talks...

 

But UEFA-C'BOL isn't interested in a GNL which would be a the facto biannual WC. C'BOL could simply agree to play in a UEFA-NL that are friendlies for C'BOL teams.

Not sure if FIFA would want to risk a WC without UEFA-C'BOL teams. I guess we will have to wait and see. I'm really eager to see C'BOL team playing in a Euro based NL against UEFA teams. Wouldn't mind boycotting a WC to see it happen (Just hope it isn't the 2026 WC - I live in Miami so I'm looking forward to it).

 

It's not FIFA's call, if both parties want it.
FIFA can't stop it. The only thing they can do is to organize a WC in that same timeframe and see if either confed is going to let go off that worldcup.
That however could be a major costly gamble if both do go the combi NL.

 

Surprisingly though the expansion to 48 teams doesn't necessitate much change in the qualifying format for most regions. I can even see some confederations expand their qualifying process, which is a bit counter-intuitive.

Qualifying format in UEFA, CONMEBOL can (and seems like they will) stay almost exactly the same. Only minor tweak needed for CAF (basically just need to eliminate the playoff round at the end). AFC would need a bit more than a tweak. I can see them expanding the final group stage to something like 3 groups of six. I think only CONCACAF needs a total overhaul (but only starting in 2030).

I think its a bit mad to expand the Euro to 32 teams. But yeah.... wouldn't surprise me. I wonder if that happens if we will see automatic qualifiers in UEFA for the first time. For e.g. the 16 teams that qualified for the World Cup automatically qualify for the 2028 Euros (?).

 

Alternatively we could just get rid of the final group stage and send the 8 stage 2 group winners. That would create room on the calendar for a nations league.

 

I think it is a great idea to have a 32-team EC. You get all of the benefits of expansion without the awkward format that a number of teams not to the power of 2 (i.e. not 4, 8, 16 or 32 teams) presents. The competition duration is also the same as with 24-teams.

If NLs are introduced in Asia and Africa, I think their WCQ formats will change significantly for 2026. I would like to see each team get a group's worth of games like in UEFA qualifying groups.

 

There's no reason to scrap the final round and enhance the luck of the draw factor. Just use the NL as a preliminary round to eliminate the minnows, then go to your 8-group second round from there. Advance 16 teams (group winners and runners-up) to a final round with 4 groups of 4, advancing the top 2 from this round to the WC and the best third to the IC playoff.

 

I would like to see every team in Africa and Asia play between 6 and 10 WCQ matches in a group context.

 

I see the NL as the group context. They're technically World Cup qualifiers in my proposal anyway, and no one benefits from having Laos play Japan and concede 10 goals. I don't want to decide WC qualifiers based on one team scoring 15 goals against Bhutan and one team scoring 12, which can happen if you just advance teams from the AFC second round to the WC directly.