KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: European federation UEFA has approved new formats for both the Nations League and the qualifying rounds of the European Championship and the World Cup to make the competitions “more attractive and exciting.”

The changes will come into force as of September 2024.

The qualifying phase for the Euro and the World Cup will be revised to 12 groups of four or five teams. The top teams in each group will qualify directly, while the runners-up may do so or contest playoffs. 

Hence UEFA intends to limit the number of matches and promote competitiveness. The Euro finals will stay at 24 teams.

The 2024-25 Nations League, after completion of the four groups of League A in November 2024, will see knockout quarterfinals in March 2025. Third-placed teams in League A and runners-up in League B, as well as third-placed in League B and runners-up in League C will contest promotion/relegation playoffs.

A UEFA statement insisted that these changes would not increase the number of matches and that they have been adopted after an extensive consultation process with the national federations to “offer more attractive and exciting competitions within the existing dates, as well as to strengthen the resources of the national federations and ensure a steady recovery from the impact of the pandemic”.

President Aleksander Čeferin said: “The introduction of the UEFA Nations League was a siuccess story, replacing friendly matches with more competitive matches. Now, with the introduction of the new knockout stage, the national teams will have even more opportunities to progress while the same number of matches has been maintained within the international match calendar.”

Nations League finals draw:

Jun 14: Netherlands v Croatia (Rotterdam). Jun 15: Spain v Italy (Enschede). Jun 18: Third place playoff (Enschede); Final (Rotterdam).

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