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UEFA to introduce new international competition in 2018: "League of Nations"


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It would follow a league format, and be played in current friendly dates. Pro-rel and play-offs.

 

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/league-of-nations-new-uefa-tournament-will-see-countries-win-qualifying-places-for-world-cup-9216138.html

 

Uefa's new 'League of Nations' tournament will see some countries win qualifying places for the World Cup and European Championships, it has emerged.

 

The new tournament, which would be played biennially in odd-numbered years on the dates currently reserved for friendlies, is expected to be given the go-ahead by Uefa's Congress in Kazakhstan on Thursday after receiving backing from the body's ruling executive committee on Wednesday.

 

The exact format has still to be confirmed, but Uefa sources said European countries would be split into four divisions, with England set to be in a top division of 14 teams along with Spain, Germany, Italy and Holland.

 

The Nations League would begin after the 2018 World Cup and have a climax of semi-finals and final at a neutral venue, while in the lower divisions there would be a final to decide on promotion and qualification places for the World Cup and European Championships.

 

The new tournament would not replace the current qualifying competitions for those major events, but it would award the four qualification spots that are currently decided by the play-offs.

 

There would also be some friendly dates kept to allow smaller countries to arrange high-profile fixtures with the big names in European football, and for countries to play friendlies against others from outside of Europe.

 

The Football Association has already backed the idea of the Nations League.

 

FA chairman Greg Dyke said earlier this month: "In principle, we'd be quite interested. The hard thing about that is the detail but I think a Nations League where we played the top nations would be very attractive."

 

Uefa has been working on the new competition for some time - Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet revealed back in October that European football's chiefs were engaged in discussions to change the format of friendly games.

 

Friendlies suck, so I'm willing to give this a chance. Not sure how they can shoehorn a whole league competition in the current international dates, while still keeping some for friendlies against non-UEFA teams.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2589313/Platinis-secret-plan-alienate-England-faithful-plot-change-way-YOU-watch-football-doesnt-care.html

 

According to that article, they are talking about playing all international football (all confederations and all tournaments) in two blocks: Nov/Dec and June/July.  That would leave domestic football to played during the rest of the year but without any internationals breaks.

 

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My only "but" - besides the fact that I'm not sure where they'll get enough dates from for a proper league competition - is that seeing competitive games between the likes of Germany, Spain, England, Italy, etc... every year would be great, but it can diminish the EC.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2589313/Platinis-secret-plan-alienate-England-faithful-plot-change-way-YOU-watch-football-doesnt-care.html

 

According to that article, they are talking about playing all international football (all confederations and all tournaments) in two blocks: Nov/Dec and June/July.  That would leave domestic football to played during the rest of the year but without any internationals breaks.

 

 

Thats the most daily-mail-esque url ever :lol:

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It's just a way to gain money from international friendlies instead of the revenue being gathered by nations. Bang goes inter-continental friendlies.

 

Who cares? apparently it replaces friendlies and seeing as you have to win the games to be successful, each game will matter.

 

So there would be a competitive nature to these games and eliminate the pointless nature of friendlies.

 

Its a good thing IMO.

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I really like idea if it replaces friendlies with competitive games.

 

:thup: Same here, I'm never arsed about friendlies but would be a lot more interested in something like this.

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Been given the official go-ahead now, all member FAs support the project:

 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uefa-approve-launch-nations-league-replace-major-international-friendlies-1442043

 

I like the idea of giving out 4 EC berths through it. All big FAs will already secure it through normal QF, so it will give an incentive to smaller FAs to give this tournament a go in order to secure a place.

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