UEFA Nations League

[Raidernation]

Does anyone really have a clue what is going on other than UEFA trying to look after the "big boys"

[Guest DAVIDB69]

So to keep it simple winning one of these groups takes you where and bottom relegates you to level d

[Guest DAVIDB69]

Results v those nations since 2000:

Hungary - L
Romania - L
Slovenia - DWDWD
Greece - not played
Serbia - DL
Albania - not played
Norway - DLLDLW
Montenegro - not played
Israel - not played
Bulgaria - W
Cyprus - W
Estonia - WW
Lithuania - LWWWDWDW

Here's hoping for Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus/Estonia, then!

We will draw lithuania we always do that's the rules

[RandomGuy.]

So to keep it simple winning one of these groups takes you where and bottom relegates you to level d

 

 

 

In simple terms, winning the group gives you a second chance of qualifying if you shitebag the actual qualifiers

 

 

[HibeeJibee]

39 minutes ago, DAVIDB69 said:

So to keep it simple winning one of these groups takes you where

Promotion to Division B.

Guaranteed slot in Euro 2020 playoffs.

 

40 minutes ago, DAVIDB69 said:

and bottom relegates you to level d

Bottom in sections C2, C3 & C4 does.

Worst third-place across all 4 sections also gets relegated.

[Sloop John B]

Personally, my strategy would be to tank this campaign in order to win Group D in four years where hopefully Wee Gordon's eugenics campaign will have started to have bared fruit with the the fruit in this case being footballers over 6 foot.

[Bully Wee Villa]

Guarantee that if we end up in Group D, there won't be a qualification spot for Group D in 2024. There will be a slot reserved for the host nation that year, I imagine Group D will miss out.

[Donathan]

I wonder if they’ll use this system to determine qualifying spaces for Qatar as well. UEFA normally get 13 WC spaces so you could have the usual nine groups of 6/7 with the winners qualifying, and then the remaining 4 spaces would be determined by UNL playoffs like the Euros.


There may be some FIFA rule against have two completely independent qualifications streams

[Donathan]

Guarantee that if we end up in Group D, there won't be a qualification spot for Group D in 2024. There will be a slot reserved for the host nation that year, I imagine Group D will miss out.

I’d imagine they’ll keep the group D spot and have one less spot from the regular qualifiers. Could have the two worst runners up in a playoff or the worst runner up misses out.

[lubo_blaha]

16 minutes ago, Donathan said:

I wonder if they’ll use this system to determine qualifying spaces for Qatar as well. UEFA normally get 13 WC spaces so you could have the usual nine groups of 6/7 with the winners qualifying, and then the remaining 4 spaces would be determined by UNL playoffs like the Euros.


There may be some FIFA rule against have two completely independent qualifications streams

There's no way they'd give Group D a guaranteed World Cup place.

[Bully Wee Villa]

I’d imagine they’ll keep the group D spot and have one less spot from the regular qualifiers. Could have the two worst runners up in a playoff or the worst runner up misses out.

Maybe. But I expect the criticism to be very strong when someone like the Faroe Islands turns up to the next Euros. They then have a couple of years to sit on their hands before quietly announcing that Group D has lost its place.

That's my prediction, anyway.

[Bully Wee Villa]

I’d imagine they’ll keep the group D spot and have one less spot from the regular qualifiers. Could have the two worst runners up in a playoff or the worst runner up misses out.

Maybe. But I expect the criticism to be very strong when someone like the Faroe Islands turns up to the next Euros. They then have a couple of years to sit on their hands before quietly announcing that Group D has lost its place.

That's my prediction, anyway.

[charger29]

23 minutes ago, Donathan said:

I’d imagine they’ll keep the group D spot and have one less spot from the regular qualifiers. Could have the two worst runners up in a playoff or the worst runner up misses out.

I'd maybe like it to be a combination of C & D playoffs. Then if you have two teams hosting you have a combination of A & B playoffs. Whatever the answer is it has to be a permanent solution as 2020 is meant to be a one off.

Would require some of the rules to be changed though as you can't play a team from a higher division in the playoffs as of just now.

Edit: also might be difficult to fit an extra game into an already ridiculously bloated football calenda.r

[HibeeJibee]

Given how complicated it all is, how many places in playoffs are bound to go down to tiebreaks, the fact they're single-legged, etc. etc. - who's to say this format will even last to a 2nd edition.

Given fewer slots I can't see it being used for WCs - and as Craigkillie noted FIFA have to approve anyway, although they do allow seperate tournaments to double-up or act as preliminaries.

[Donathan]

Maybe. But I expect the criticism to be very strong when someone like the Faroe Islands turns up to the next Euros. They then have a couple of years to sit on their hands before quietly announcing that Group D has lost its place.

That's my prediction, anyway.

Are the best league D sides any worse than teams that qualified for the 24 team Euros in 2016? Albania and Hungary were kinda minnows. Even Latvia made the Euros in the past.

[Nightmare]

6 hours ago, forameus said:

It's still hilarious to me that one of the League D teams below are going to be at Euro 2020.  Brilliant for them, could really kick some of them on, but deary me.  Looks like they're in seeding order, so one of those top 4 looking like favourites at the moment?  At least if we make it to Euro 2020 and Georgia do too, we presumably won't be playing them in Tbilisi...

I don't think it's a terrible thing. The Euros are already diluted as things are, and realistically it's going to be someone like Azerbaijan or Georgia, and in future years possibly the likes of Belarus or Lithuania when they get relegated. None of these are substantially worse than certain teams that rocked up at Euro 2016 under the new format. One spot for a random diddy isn't going to change much, and it gives them something of a purpose on the international scene that isn't losing to everyone not called San Marino or Gibraltar (or Scotland).

6 hours ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

I'd predict Faroe Islands will do it. Copy the Iceland rise of recent years.

Let's be honest though, we're going to lose out anyway, so might as well get beat by decent teams. Getting our tatties from Finland and Albania doesn't sound like much fun.

edit - Read through the whole thing and it's laughably complex, especially for the common fan that still thinks away goals count as double.

Faroe Islands would be a great shout to win this, and a deserved one as well. Despite being a football minnow on the scale of Liechtenstein or Malta, they've been punching above their weight for a few campaigns now, regularly beating the teams around and below them, and claiming a few decent scalps as well. Don't know exactly what to attribute their relative success to, but I'd guess they're following a similar structure to Iceland. Hilarious that we should probably be looking to the Faroe Islands for a grassroots football development template.

4 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Results v those nations since 2000:

Hungary - L
Romania - L
Slovenia - DWDWD
Greece - not played
Serbia - DL
Albania - not played
Norway - DLLDLW
Montenegro - not played
Israel - not played
Bulgaria - W
Cyprus - W
Estonia - WW
Lithuania - LWWWDWDW

Here's hoping for Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus/Estonia, then!

Ridiculous anomaly, the amount of times we've drawn Lithuania.

No more, please.

[Bully Wee Villa]

Well, yes. Those teams finished in the top two in their qualifying groups or finished third and won a playoff.

 

The teams in Group D are a mix of fifth-placed dross and sixth-placed "let's try to keep the score down" merchants.

 

 

[HibeeJibee]

1 minute ago, Nightmare said:

Ridiculous anomaly, the amount of times we've drawn Lithuania.

No more, please.

Euro 2000 qualifying, too!

DW

[lubo_blaha]

We should be playing at least 2 of our home games at Pittodrie/Easter Road/Tynecastle/Rugby Park for this competition. We're not realistically going to bring in over 25k for any of the teams in our pot, unless we're given a 5pm Saturday kick off for one. Better off with a full ground than swathes of empty seats at Hampden.

[Gordopolis]

10 hours ago, lubo_blaha said:

We should be playing at least 2 of our home games at Pittodrie/Easter Road/Tynecastle/Rugby Park for this competition. We're not realistically going to bring in over 25k for any of the teams in our pot, unless we're given a 5pm Saturday kick off for one. Better off with a full ground than swathes of empty seats at Hampden.

Will these games be spread over the 'week of football', or will we get more freedom to arrange sensible kick off dates/times? 3pm/5pm Saturday could be the thing that makes this tournament work.