Reports in the Telegraph and on Sky Sports News today have suggested that a European 'Nations League' is looking likely to replace the program of international friendlies during non-competitive international match windows. If approved by the UEFA congress on Thursday, the new tournament would be held every second year from 2018/19, and would take the place of most international friendly fixture dates.
Early reports of a competitive league taking the place of exhibition games first appeared in the Danish media in October, and look to be confirmed as UEFA chiefs gather to meet in Kazakhstan. England's FA have approved the plan. Chairman Greg Dyke said earlier this month: "In principle, we'd be quite interested. The hard thing about that is the detail but I think a Nations League where we played the top nations would be very attractive."
Closer to home, these developments will surely be good news for Irish football fans and the FAI - friendlies have become a tough sell of late and are increasingly becoming a chore for fans and players alike - but for last winter's appointment of O'Neill and Keane, the matches against Latvia and Serbia would surely have been played in front of paltry attendances.
Should UEFA adopt the format, successful teams could fill some of the European places at the 2022 World Cup, but that would be subject to approval by FIFA. The world governing body may not accept that proposal as they tend to favour formats in which all entrants have, at least in theory, a fair shot at making the finals. One plan up for debate would see top division semifinals and a final held at a neutral venue, while the leagues below would compete for promotion and relegation.
Lower-ranked nations would have the benefit of playing more winnable games on a regular basis, and could further help the imporving competitiveness of the international game in Europe - with the exception of San Marino, the days of enduring 7- and 8-0 thumpings are becoming rarer for the bottom seeds.
A negative aspect would of course be the reduced likelihood of marquee friendlies against World Cup favourites, especially those from South America, though some dates would be set aside for such games. The counter argument still stands that the fact that all replacement games would have a competitive incentive and therefore should attract interest and a healthy crowd regardless of the divisional opposition.
A top division of 14 teams have been suggested - which sounds like it would make for an extremely drawn-out, if varied campaign. UEFA currently has 54 member nations - surely nine groups of six, or six groups of nine would make more sense, with teams being assigned to groups using the same method of determined qualifying group seedings.
So who would be in the same division as Ireland if the 14-team model was adopted below the top league? Going on their Pot 2 seeding for the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Ireland would take their place in division two, alongside:
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- (Ireland)
- Serbia
- Turkey
- Slovenia
- Israel
- Norway
- Slovakia
- Romania
- Austria
Some interesting encounters there, no doubt - though the lack of that 'big night' against a top side may take some getting used to - that and the fact that there would be no 'gimmes' either. Surprising omissions from that hypothetical grouping are France, who just sneak into the top division, and Poland, who somehow are ranked just outside that less-than-inspiring collection - even their geographic location suggests that they'd be in there. Either way, we offer our tentative backing to any proposal that might reintroduce that spark of excitement to the Irish international scene.
