The new competition formats for men’s national teams, which will take effect in September 2024, were approved this Wednesday, UEFA announced after the meeting of the organization’s executive committee in Nyon, Switzerland.
The purpose of the changes to the League of Nations and qualifications for the European and World Championships is “to offer more attractive and exciting competitions within the existing data, and to strengthen the resources of national federations and ensure a stable recovery from the impact of the pandemic”can be found on the UEFA website.
The League of Nations will be expanded with a new knockout stage to be played in March, creating continuity between the group stage, which ends in November, and the final stage, which will be played in June.
The winners and runners-up of the Liga A groups participate in the quarter-finals, with home and away games, and the winners of these qualifiers qualify for the ‘Final Four’ (Final Phase).
Third place in League A and second place in League B, third place in League B and second place in League C play a home-and-away promotion/relegation play-off.
According to UEFA, the expansion of this competition to the March international calendar window will only cover a certain number of teams and the rest will already be available to start the European qualification.
The new format of European qualification for the European Championship or the FIFA World Cup will be more consolidated, with teams divided into 12 groups of four and five teams, “bringing new life into the competition and making it less predictable and more dynamic,” said the UEFA. .
With traditional home and away games and the principles of ‘everyone playing against everyone’, this simple format will “provide more competitive groups at all levels,” he added.
Teams placed in groups of five will start the qualifiers in March or June, if they are still participating in the Nations League quarter-finals or promotion/relegation matches of the same competition.
Teams drawn in groups of four will start their respective campaigns in September.
“The group winners of the European Qualifiers qualify directly for the European Championship or the FIFA World Cup, while the runners-up qualify directly or participate in the ‘play-offs’ (together with the teams of the League of Nations for qualification for the European Championship) “, he says.
No changes have been proposed for the European final, in which 24 teams will still participate.
According to the entity headed by Aleksander Ceferin, these changes, which will be implemented after Euro2024, will lead to “more attractive games without an increase in the total number of games”.
“The introduction of the UEFA Nations League has been a success, with friendlies being replaced by more competitive ones. Now, with the introduction of the new knockout stage, teams have even more opportunities to evolve, with the same number of matches played within the international calendar of games”emphasized the president of UEFA.
According to the official, “The predictability of European qualifying has also been addressed and addressed, with a new format that gives all teams an equal chance to qualify for the main draws. The new format promises to bring more excitement to football’s national team competitions in Europe, which are growing more and more”.
At this Wednesday’s meeting, the Executive Committee also decided to nominate the Football Association of Slovakia (SFZ) to host the final round of the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with 16 teams. The matches will be played in the summer of 2025 at eight venues, in eight different cities across the country.
At the same time, following the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current general developments across Europe, including the removal of previous measures in place in most domestic competitions, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to extend the application of the UEFA return protocol. ‘to play’.
“In line with the abolition of the protocol, it was further decided not to further introduce the relevant annexes related to special rules applicable due to covid-19, which were included in the UEFA competition rules, as these rules were linked to the application of the protocol”emphasized UEFA.
Nevertheless, the organization guaranteed that it will “continue to closely monitor the evolution of the pandemic and, in the event of a significant change in circumstances, will propose appropriate measures to ensure the safety of all parties involved and the smooth running of its competitions, including, if necessary, re-executing all relevant obligations and sanitary measures”.
Regulations for the 2023-25 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and the regulations for the 2023-25 UEFA European Women’s Championship were also approved.
The next UEFA Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for April 4, 2023, the day before the 47th regular UEFA Congress in Lisbon.
Source: DN
