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Euro 2020 Qualifying

10menwent2mow

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10menwent2mow

10menwent2mow

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Been trying to get my head round the qualifying system for this with the Nations League and all that. Am I correct in thinking that one of the worst 16 teams in Europe is guaranteed to qualify for the finals simply be being the best of the poorest teams in Europe. It's like saying that you have the winners of each of the Championship, League 1 and League 2 qualify for the Europa league at the end of every season.

Maybe I've picked it up wrong but that's certainly how I read it. I suppose in a way it might give a country like ourselves two bites at the cherry regarding qualification but the thought of a Georgia or Lithuania qualifying ahead of us simply by beating San Marino and Gibraltar and Andorra etc seems a bit daft.

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MEADOWXI

MEADOWXI

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Yes, 

 

But the the 4 spots are allocated after the Euro qualifiers. Way I read it,

 

Nations League gets played, completed giving the promotion and relegation and the winners of the 4 groups in League A have a finals tournament later.

 

Euro qualifiers get played and 20 of the 24 slots for Euro 2020 are filled.

 

Then the last 4 slots are filled by finding the best 4 teams from each Nations League level ( A,B,C,D ) have playoffs to fill those spaces,

Could be a 2nd shot for Scotland if we arse it up.

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forameus

forameus

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HibeeJibee will probably be on momentarily to explain it much better, but you and Meadow essentially have it right.

 

There are going to be ten groups in proper qualifying, with the group winners going through, and then 9 of the best second placed sides (8 if it's the joint host, which obviously isn't the case for 2020).  Add in the hosts, and you've got your 20.  Not sure how this will work in 2020, but suspect every 2nd placed side will qualify given there isn't a host.

 

So you have your 20, leaving four spots.  The Nations League has already been played, four groups of teams.  The four best sides in each group will then play in a knockout format until there is only one.  That one qualifies.

 

so yes, this does mean that in the uber-diddy group gets to qualify.  If you take the 16 lowest ranked UEFA nations in the FIFA World rankings (I know it'll probably be done by UEFA coefficient, but still), then that means one of Gibraltar, Andorra, San Marino, Malta, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Armenia or Montenegro will qualify through this route.  When you take into account that those who have already qualified are ineligible, you're going to get some interesting nations in this last chance playoff.

 

EDIT: I did a Scotland save on FM16, so these changes were in there.  For Euro 2020, the playoff round saw the following matches (winners in bold)

 

Greece vs Slovakia

Norway vs Cyprus

Israel vs Denmark

Croatia vs Finland

Bulgaria vs Northern Ireland

Bosnia vs Wales

Armenia vs Azerbaijan

Lithuania vs Georgia

 

Greece vs Norway

Denmark vs Croatia

Bulgaria vs Bosnia

Armenia vs Lithuania

 

So in practice, it's not that bad in terms of who qualifies.  Only one - Armenia - can really be described as a shock.  There's so many variables in there, so in real life we could see someone like San Marino qualify, but it's still massively unlikely, even if they are given a second bite.  I don't think there's going to be a massive difference in quality these days between the top end of the worst 16 nations, and the 20 or so nations above them. 

 

It does mean better news for us.  If we take a dip, we could end up in the third tier of the Nations League, which would mean a pretty winnable group, giving us a second chance should we not make it out of our proper group.  Having said that, we'll probably be in the second tier, which will mean much harder games.  Then we need to hope for anyone above us to have already qualified.  I'm actually quite looking forward to the Nations League

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HibeeJibee

HibeeJibee

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Nations League is held September-October-November 2018... 4 divisions, with 4 sections in each division. Section winners promoted, section bottoms relegated for next time. Winners of top division sections play a 'Finals Tournament' in summer 2019.

 

Euro 2020 qualifiers run March-June-September-October-November 2019... 10 groups and top 2 in each qualify = 20.

 

Then you return to the Nations League sections, take the highest-placed nation in each group that hasn't already qualified, then in March 2020 there are Semi-Finals & Finals in each division, over 1 leg in a neutral city, and winners qualify = 4.

 

Simple...

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10menwent2mow

10menwent2mow

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It's the fact that a crap team essentially qualifies for being crap that gets me. What's the difference between being promoted between the nations leagues by being successful and being promoted up the pots by being successful, this giving you a theoretically easier group, thus more chance of qualifying.

As I said earlier, it's like giving the league 2 winners a Europa league spot. Total madness.

Yes it may be a more inclusive system and give lesser nations a chance to play at a finals but it's an extremely un-meritocratic system and makes a further mockery of international football in Europe. Then again, that's maybe what Uefa want in order to strengthen the champions league brand.

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10menwent2mow

10menwent2mow

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As a Scotland supporter, shouldn't we be absolutely thrilled by this?

 

Nah we'd still manage to find a way to make an arse of it.

 

Realistically it will give us a second bite at qualifying, I'm guessing that with 12 teams in each of Division 1 and 2, Scotland will likely be floating around between Division 2 and 3. If we're in Division 2, you'd have to think we'd have a below average chance of qualifying, if we're in Division 3 then I guess we'd have a more than decent chance. Or we could just lose every game for the next few years and get into Division 4, probably our best chance of making it.

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lionel hutz

lionel hutz

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Nations League is held September-October-November 2018... 4 divisions, with 4 sections in each division. Section winners promoted, section bottoms relegated for next time. Winners of top division sections play a 'Finals Tournament' in summer 2019.

 

Euro 2020 qualifiers run March-June-September-October-November 2019... 10 groups and top 2 in each qualify = 20.

 

Then you return to the Nations League sections, take the highest-placed nation in each group that hasn't already qualified, then in March 2020 there are Semi-Finals & Finals in each division, over 1 leg in a neutral city, and winners qualify = 4.

 

Simple...

So it'll be 5/6 groups having 6 teams and 4/5 groups of 5 teams

The slash is in case Jersey are successful in gaining UEFA membership

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forameus

forameus

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So it'll be 5/6 groups having 6 teams and 4/5 groups of 5 teams

The slash is in case Jersey are successful in gaining UEFA membership

 

In the qualifying proper?  At the moment it'd be 3 groups of 6 and 7 with 5.  Although at the rate they're bringing in nations into UEFA (Kosovo will be in presumably), the number of 6 team groups will increase.  We should find six "new" nations, that'd give us the round 60, so everyone gets a pot 6 diddy.

 

For the Nations League, I think the top two tiers have three sides in each group, with the rest having four. 

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HomelandsOur

HomelandsOur

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In the qualifying proper? At the moment it'd be 3 groups of 6 and 7 with 5. Although at the rate they're bringing in nations into UEFA (Kosovo will be in presumably), the number of 6 team groups will increase. We should find six "new" nations, that'd give us the round 60, so everyone gets a pot 6 diddy.

For the Nations League, I think the top two tiers have three sides in each group, with the rest having four.

55 UEFA members (incl Kosovo)

Jersey

Guernsey (unlikely)

Greenland

Catalonia (independence)

Kurdistan (independence would result in an Israel case)

Monaco (maybe UEFA will convince them that there's no threat to AS)

Vatican City (pigs might fly)

Alderney (very unlikely)

Isle of Man

Ã…land Islands

Veneto/Sicily/Basque/Flanders (independence)

Plenty of scope for expansion but if I had to plump for 5;

Jersey (have applied)

Greenland (want to apply)

Ã…land Islands (similar status to Greenland)

Monaco (an actual sovereign country)

Catalonia (beside Scotland as next likely new sovereign country)

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HibeeJibee

HibeeJibee

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Gibraltar's situation was somewhat different as they'd applied before the rules were changed to say "sovereign states" only, and had got knocked back due to Spanish machinations.

 

Kosovo is somewhat unique due to their being part-way on the road to becoming a sovereign state.

 

Greenland do not have a league and have only just built their first proper football pitch, and fall geographically within the CONCACAF area, albeit their Wikipedia page claims - with some sources cited - that they've plans in conjunction with the Danish FA to build a national stadium then apply to UEFA.

 

If I was to guess: we won't see any new members in the vein people are talking about unless Monaco change their historical position, and possibly this Greenland situation. I don't see Jersey/Guernsey/etc. being successful.

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Broomhill Ultra

Broomhill Ultra

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55 UEFA members (incl Kosovo)

Jersey

Guernsey (unlikely)

Greenland

Catalonia (independence)

Kurdistan (independence would result in an Israel case)

Monaco (maybe UEFA will convince them that there's no threat to AS)

Vatican City (pigs might fly)

Alderney (very unlikely)

Isle of Man

Ã…land Islands

Veneto/Sicily/Basque/Flanders (independence)

Plenty of scope for expansion but if I had to plump for 5;

Jersey (have applied)

Greenland (want to apply)

Ã…land Islands (similar status to Greenland)

Monaco (an actual sovereign country)

Catalonia (beside Scotland as next likely new sovereign country)

What about the Falklands? 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

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  • 2 years later...
Latino Lover

Latino Lover

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Just realised that due to countries playing at least two home games in the tournament it’ll see Spain play at san Mamés if they qualify, had to see if they had before and they have 6 times but can’t have been recent. 

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The Nightfly

The Nightfly

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Just realised that due to countries playing at least two home games in the tournament it’ll see Spain play at san Mamés if they qualify, had to see if they had before and they have 6 times but can’t have been recent. 
More than 50 years ago. A 2-0 win v Turkey on 31 May 1967, if my research is correct.
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