' New league to replace international friendlies '

Thursday 27th March 2014.

' Uefa Backs New 'Nations League' Tournament '

The tournament format is not yet finalised, but it foresees 54 teams ranked in four divisions playing September-November

Uefa consists of 54 member countries

Uefa is to introduce a new 'Nations League' tournament to replace most international football friendlies from 2018.

The competition will feed into qualifying playoffs for the 2020 European Championship and could later be incorporated into qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

Uefa President Michel Platini said it was "a very important decision for the future of football at the level of national teams."

The tournament format is yet to be finalised, although it foresees 54 teams ranked in four divisions playing from September to November 2018.

Twelve top-ranked teams would play in four three-team groups in Division A. Those group winners advance to a finals tournament.

Qualifying groups for Euro 2020 would be played March-November 2019 with Euro 2020 playoff teams would be decided by Nations League results.

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correct me if im wrong but does that mean only 4 of the best 12 will qualify?

i would prefer it if all 12 of the best 12 qualified tbh

No it doesn't. I've been reading up on this today, very confusing.

54 teams split to 4 leagues. Within each league there will be 4 pots, so each team plays 2/3 of the teams around them in the current rankings, home and away between Sep-Dec. The 4 teams who win the pots then face each other in June to decide the div winner. The winner of them get promoted and losers (of the 3rd/4th placed sides) gets relegated.

Also the 4 highest ranked teams NOT to qualify for the Euros, in each division, will play each other in order to take the last 4 qualification spaces. So scrapping the current play offs, giving 1 team from each new 'division' a second shot at qualifying.

Might be wrong with part of that but all in all very confusing.

Think we worked out we (Wales) would be in div 3 and our pool within our division would be Finland, us and Bulgaria.