The UEFA Nations League is objectively a cool idea — turn meaningless friendlies into interesting competitions, replace boring lopsided matches with enticingly even matchups, create another tournament for players and fans to enjoy. But Wednesday’s draw didn’t exactly get the pulses racing for next fall’s Nations League schedule outside of a handful of UEFA’s 55 countries.
League A, Group 1 is awesome: Germany, France and the Netherlands. Group A4 is pretty good too: Spain, England and Croatia. But the other 14 groups fail to really move the needle.
The UEFA Nations League schedule is now set after Wednesday's draw. Photo: @UEFAEURO | Twitter
The UEFA Nations League schedule will begin in September as each country plays the other countries in its group home and away, with six matches for every team by the end of November. The winners in each group (aside from League A) will be promoted up a league while the bottom teams will be relegated. League A’s top four teams will have a mini tournament in June 2019 to determine the overall champion of the Nations League.
A first look at the #NationsLeague trophy pic.twitter.com/y94135cboP
— UEFA Nations League (@UEFAEURO) January 24, 2018
To add greater value to this competition, the top four teams in each league that don’t qualify for Euro 2020 will face off in March 2020 in a mini tournament to give each of the four leagues an additional berth to the tournament.
It’s all a fantastic idea, but Wednesday’s draw didn’t do UEFA any favors.
Group A1 is undoubtedly the highlight of the entire competition. The reigning champs, a World Cup favorite and the enigmatic Dutch make up the group most will focus on during this inaugural season. Group A4 should be good too, as long as Spain doesn’t blow everyone away. But the other League A groups are not as interesting: Iceland, Switzerland and Belgium in A2, Poland, Italy and Portugal in A3.
The groups unsurprisingly don’t get any better as you descend through the leagues, with one small exception. Group C4 comprised of Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Lithuania is of interesting primarily because we get to see two Serbia vs. Montenegro matches. Similarly, you could argue Group B1 will be fun for Slovakia being drawn with the Czech Republic. But overall, there isn’t much to get excited about in group play.
League D will be particularly bad to watch, though we already knew that because none of the teams are any good (though a couple could probably qualify for the World Cup if they were in CONCACAF, unlike some countries).
Draw for the UEFA Nations League. Photo: @FIFAcom | Twitter
That said, this tournament will still be a huge bonus for all soccer fans. Instead of tuning in for meaningless friendlies, fans can tune in to a Nations League schedule full of matchups between relatively even teams. Plus, the playoffs to determine the final berths to the 2020 Euros will create some of the best drama we could ask for from qualifiers, especially considering one of those lowly League D nations will have a chance to compete in Europe’s premier competition.
Plus, the UEFA Nations League could soon feed into a Global Nations League that will easily trump anything Woodrow Wilson ever accomplished.
UEFA Nations League Schedule
Matchday 1: September 6-8, 2018
Matchday 2: September 9-11, 2018
Matchday 3: October 11-13, 2018
Matchday 4: October 14-16, 2018
Matchday 5: November 15-17, 2018
Matchday 6: November 18-20, 2018
Finals draw: early December 2018
Finals: June 5-9, 2019
UEFA EURO 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs: March 26-31, 2020
The18 Recommends For You
