NewsAssociation
Nations League since 2018
On Wednesday, 26th March 2014, the project of the Nations League was accepted during the UEFA Congress in Kazakh Astana. 54 European national teams will take part in the competitions which will begin after the 2018 World Cup.
The division stage of the Nations League will start in September and will last until November. Basing on the UEFA ranking, 54 national teams will be divided into four divisions A, B, C and D. The first two will consist of 12 teams, C 14 and D 16. The competition in each of the leagues will take place in four groups consisting of three or four teams. The winners of particular divisions will be promoted to the higher level and the teams ranking last in their groups will be relegated to the lower league. Additionally, the winners of A division groups will play for the final victory in the Final Four tournament in June 2019.
In March 2020, the winners of each division of the Nations League will start fighting for four wild cards entitling to play in EURO 2020. Each of the divisions A, B, C and D will receive one wild card. In a situation when the winner of the division ensures participation in the European Championship in the qualifiers, the wild card will be given to the best team of the Nations League division which did not manage to qualify to EURO 2020. Full cycle of the Nations League competitions will take nearly two years.
Another edition will start in September 2020, after UEFA European Championship. In this edition the system of game will bit slightly different. After the qualifiers, 10 best teams will advance to Mundial. 10 national teams ranking runner-up in the division will advance to the play-offs, in which the winners of A and B division of the Nations League will play. The winners of 6 play-offs will create 3 pairs which will fight for the promotion to Mundial on a neutral date.
