What is the Nations League?

On Wednesday the draw for the Nations League will be done, but so many people don't even know what it is or how it works, so what is it? The Nations League is a new international competition that has been set up to reduce the amount of friendlies during international breaks and to make international games more competitive. It has been set up by UEFA to include all the European teams and will give countries the opportunity to play competitive games against similar standard of opposition.

Playing Format

It is a league format but it's a lot more complicated than the Premier League. There are four different leagues, which teams are allocated to in accordance to their coefficient ranking as of October 2017. The top league, known as League A, consists of 12 nations, as does League B, with League C having 15 countries and League D having 16, making up the 55 football nations in Europe. Each league will then be split up into four groups, where they will play each other twice across the six match days during the international breaks in September, October and November.

The Leagues

As previously mentioned the group with the best coefficient ranking are in League A, with the lowest being in League D. They are split into different pots determined by these rankings, the leagues and pots are as follows...

League A

Pot 1: Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal

Pot 2: England, France, Italy, Switzerland

Pot 3: Croatia, Poland, Iceland, Netherlands

In League A there will be four groups of three, with one nation from each pot going into each group, for example, England could be in a group with Germany and Iceland as Germany are in Pot 1, England are in Pot 2, and Iceland are in Pot 3. Each team will play each other twice, once at home and once away, so each team will play four matches overall. This stage of the competition finishes in November 2018.

The countries that finish top of their groups in League A will go into a Nations League Finals stage, which will then consist of four teams. This will make up two semi-finals, before a final will commence. These games will occur in June 2019. There will also be a delegated nation to host these finals, which will be one of the four that qualify for it.

Based on it being a league system, there will also be relegations, so the nations that finish bottom of their group will go down to League B for the next Nations League competition which will start after the Euro's in September 2020.

League B

Pot 1: Russia, Wales, Slovakia, Austria

Pot 2: Republic of Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Sweden

Pot 3: Northern Ireland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Turkey

Just like League A, there are three pots of four, meaning that there will be four groups of three. However, Russia and Ukraine are not allowed to be drawn in the same group, which has been decided by the UEFA Executive Committee. There are no final stages for League B as it is only for League A, but the prize for winning your group is that you are promoted to League A for the next Nations League competition. The same as the top division however, the nations that finish bottom of their group will be relegated to the next league, which in this case would be League C.

League C

Pot 1: Romania, Hungary, Scotland, Slovenia

Pot 2: Greece, Serbia, Norway, Albania

Pot 3: Bulgaria, Israel, Montenegro, Finland

Pot 4: Cyprus, Lithuania, Estonia

There are more countries in League C and is the only one that has an odd number. In this case there will be three groups of four, and one group of three, with each team still playing each other twice. The winners of each group will be promoted to League B and the team that comes bottom of the group will be relegated to League D. This way there are still four nations being promoted and four being relegated. A rule that has been put in place for this group is that no more than two of the following nations can be in the same group due to winter venue restrictions: Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway.

League D

Pot 1: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Macedonia, Georgia

Pot 2: Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg

Pot 3: Malta, Liechtenstein, Kazakhstan, Moldova

Pot 4: Andorra, Gibraltar, Kosovo, San Marino

League D is the largest of all four, consisting of 16 nations, and therefore will have four groups of four, with the winner of each group being promoted, but obviously no one can be relegated from this league. This is probably the most likely route for many of these countries to reach the European Championships as it will mean that the group winner will move into the play-offs, whereas the majority of them usually come nearer the bottom of their qualifying groups for major competitions. There are also restrictions in this group for who can face who due to travel restrictions. So these pairs cannot be drawn together: Andorra and Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan, Gibraltar and Kazakhstan, and Gibraltar and Azerbaijan.

Qualifying for the Euro's

This doesn't completely get rid of the system to qualify for the Euro's in 2020, but it does change it slightly. Just like the 2016 edition, there will be 24 teams competing in the Euro's, but this time the 55 countries looking to qualify will be split into 10 groups, with the top two from each group going through to the Euro's and the final four places being decided by play-offs that are decided by the Nations League. When it comes to making the play-offs for the Euro's it gets a little bit more complicated. There are 16 groups all together in the Nations League and the group winner from each will go into the play-offs to qualify for the Euro's. However, if the group winner has already qualified for the European Championships, their spot in the play-offs will be handed to the next highest ranked country in their league. This is determined by their position in their group, so second placed teams will be first in line, but after that it goes down to their goal difference, then goals scored, then away goals scored, their amount of wins, away wins, their amount of disciplinary points they accumulate and then their coefficient ranking. The 16 teams in the play-offs will be placed into four paths, which consist of two semi-finals and a final, resulting in four winners from the four paths, each winner from the paths going to the European Championships, meaning that the 24 teams are decided. It is a little confusing.

Is the Nations League a good idea?

I feel it is an excellent idea for many reasons and for many different people. For fans it means that there are games that will be more entertaining and that will mean something. For many of the top nations, they have comfortable qualifying campaigns and then end up just looking forward to major tournaments which are only every two years. With this competition, it means fans can look forward to playing meaningful games against similar level of oppositions more often, making fans more likely to watch the games. In England, a lot of supporters, especially the younger generation, don't pay much attention to the national team due to the constant disappointment in World Cups or European Championships. Another reason is down to the amount of friendlies and qualifiers against San Marino or Lichtenstein, or similar calibre. Many just don't see the point in watching.

It will also improve the standard of national teams as they will play more competitive games and will test themselves against other teams of their level. The only time the better countries ever play each other away from major tournaments are in friendlies, so being able to do so in this way will certainly improve the tactical and mental approach to games in major tournaments. That has been the criticism for so long for England due to them sweeping aside everyone in qualifying, only to fall short of expectations in major competitions.

This is an exciting competition and hopefully it will aid performance and support just as planned. Saying all this, we do have a World Cup to look forward to first, so there's still a long way until we see the Nations League in action. Time will tell if this was a good idea after all.