The World Cup is over, but international football will not be gone for long.
The newly-founded UEFA Nations League starts on September 6, with 55 European nations competing in four leagues.
There will be a few blockbuster games to start the tournament, as England take on Spain and World Cup winners France face previous champions Germany.
Here’s all you need to know about the UEFA Nations League, including the teams, groups.
What is the UEFA Nations League?
The UEFA Nations League is a new international tournament. England will go up against other European nations in a league format for the chance to compete in the Final Four summer showpiece in 2019, where the winner will be crowned the Nations League champion.
In a bid to improve the quality of international football and reduce the number of meaningless friendlies, UEFA – which has been planning the competition since 2011 – has devised a new format to add excitement and competition to country clashes.
How will it work?
There will be 55 teams involved, split into four leagues (A, B, C and D) based on their UEFA ranking at the end of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.
Within those four leagues, teams will be split again into groups, which will be made up of either three or four teams.
Within each league, four teams will be promoted at the end of the cycle, while four teams will be relegated. They will then play at their new level in the next competition, which starts in 2020.
The winners of the four groups in League A will qualify for the Final Four competition.
What is the Final Four?
The Final Four is the climax to the Nations League. It will take place in June 2019 and pit the group winners from League A against each other. There will be a one-game semi-final stage followed by the final.
The winner will be named as Nations League champion.
The Final Four tournament will occur in odd years, meaning that in years when there isn’t a World Cup or European Championships, there will be a Nations League winner.
How will the Nations League affect European Qualifiers?
Euro qualifiers for 2020 will commence in March 2019, with double headers in the March, June, September, October and November international breaks.
Teams will be split into five groups of five teams and five groups of six teams. In total, there will be 10 matchdays – the same number as now.
The top two teams from the 10 groups qualify automatically for the Euros, while four more places at the finals will be awarded to play-off winners. Sixteen teams will compete in the play-offs.
Now, here’s the interesting bit…
Each Nations League league gets four play-off spots. If the winner of a group has already qualified for the Euros, the next best team which has not qualified goes into the play-offs.
Those sixteen teams will go into four groups, with the top team going to the Euros. The four teams play two one-off semi-finals and one one-off final to determine play-off winners.
So, if one of the Home Nations fails to qualify the traditional way, each league has a path of its own to the finals.
The UEFA Nations League rankings will also determine the composition of draw pots for subsequent European Qualifiers.
