European Nations League from 2018

[FF]

FA welcomes new Nations League to replace most international friendlies
UK Guardian

• Tournament to have promotion and relegation
• Uefa calls it 'a big step for national teams in Europe'

Alex Horne, the general secretary of the Football Association, has welcomed the announcement of a new Nations League tournament which will replace most international friendlies from 2018.

Uefa has approved the tournament, revealed by The Guardian in October, which will feature promotion and relegation and will allow an extra chance to qualify for the European Championship, after unanimous support from the European governing body's 54 member associations.

Horne described it as "a really exciting prospect" that added a "nice rhythm to the international calendar". He dismissed fears that there would be opposition to the plan in England, telling Sky Sports News that: "For managers like Roy Hodgson you want to be playing these big games."

Read More

The Nations League explained

• There will be four divisions, each containing 12-14 teams based on Uefa's coefficients. England and other top European sides will be in Division A

• Each division will have four mini-leagues, so England would play three or four other Division A teams on a home-and-away basis between September and November 2018

• The winners of each mini-league go into their division's semi-finals and then final at a neutral venue in June 2019. Each division winner will qualify for Euro 2020 meaning one of the smaller nations in Division D will be guaranteed a place at the Euros

• The remaining 20 qualification places for Euro 2020 will be decided via the usual qualifying groups in matches played from 2019, possibly going on as late as March 2020

• Four of Europe's 13 qualifying places for the 2022 World Cup may also be decided via the top two divisions of the Nations League

• TV income is likely to organised in a similar way to the Champions League, with each country being awarded half the value of its Nations League TV rights deal and the rest shared out across the 54 nations via participation money and match bonuses

[BBL]

In other words, the chances for Trinidad and Tobago to play European teams has just halved.The friendly slots will be used for the new competition.

[Tiresais]

Depressing thought BBL, was all happy reading this lol. We might have to look to South America for this

Tbh they will have to overhaul FIFA rankings of this happens, as those European teams in the top division will dominate teh rankings simply due to the high-worth of the teams they're playing.