UEFA Nations League and Euro/World Cup qualifying changes

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

16 hours ago, Donathan said:

AFAIK the seeding pots are completely fixed based on the last nations league campaign and no results between now and February will change them. Might as well do the draw tomorrow 

Yeah that's correct.  We knew after the Ukraine game in 2022 who was in every pot for every league.

[PSJ.84]

 

[craigkillie]

The luck of the draw is going to be incredibly important here, because there is the definite possibility of winnable groups (eg Croatia, Hungary, Poland) but also groups where we'd be heavy favourites to finish bottom (eg Spain, Portugal, France).

[Donathan]

Hopefully we get at least one of Denmark, Hungary, Poland or Switzerland (preferably two) because it would be excellent to stay up in this pre-WC UNL and get into league A again in order to pretty much guarantee a playoff for Euro 2028.

 

Conversely, relegation next time would be absolutely fine because it’s arguably better to be in league B for the UNL before a World Cup. Only group winners can achieve a playoff through that route so league A not a great place to be in that instance. 
 

Conversely, if we do go down this time then it’s arguably better to finish 2nd in our league B group next time than to win it. All of the second place league B teams including Ukraine who were runner up to us look like they’re going to make the playoffs anyway and doing so keeps us in league B for 2030.

 

Being a league A/B yo-yo team is completely fine but we are currently out of sync with the ideal way to do it. We either need to avoid relegation once or stay down one to correct that. 

[PSJ.84]

f**k that, we’re winning the whole thing. 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

2 hours ago, Donathan said:

Hopefully we get at least one of Denmark, Hungary, Poland or Switzerland (preferably two) because it would be excellent to stay up in this pre-WC UNL and get into league A again in order to pretty much guarantee a playoff for Euro 2028.

 

Conversely, relegation next time would be absolutely fine because it’s arguably better to be in league B for the UNL before a World Cup. Only group winners can achieve a playoff through that route so league A not a great place to be in that instance. 
 

Conversely, if we do go down this time then it’s arguably better to finish 2nd in our league B group next time than to win it. All of the second place league B teams including Ukraine who were runner up to us look like they’re going to make the playoffs anyway and doing so keeps us in league B for 2030.

 

Being a league A/B yo-yo team is completely fine but we are currently out of sync with the ideal way to do it. We either need to avoid relegation once or stay down one to correct that. 

As far as I know, 3rd place A teams and 2nd place B teams now also have a playoff for promotion/relegation.  Same with 3rd place and League C 2nd placed teams.  Seems to be a way of changing things up a bit more - certainly it now makes it possible for all four sides in League B to be in a different League come the next edition (1st and 2nd promoted to A; 3rd and 4th relegated to C).

[2426255]

My personal preference are games that would capture my imagination - so I'd be quite happy to see us drawn in a group with The Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. It would be tough, but I find it more interesting to play teams we haven't played in a while rather than having another go at the likes of Spain, Denmark and Poland.

Edited September 28, 2023 by 2426255