The highest continental body organizes two different tournaments at national team level.
What is the difference between the historic European Championship and the ‘young’ Nations League? That is the question many football fans have been asking since 2018, the year in which the new tournament organized by UEFA at national team level was founded.
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What is the difference between the UEFA Nations League and the Euro Cup?
The UEFA Nations League is a national team competition that replaces friendly matches with official matches, allowing teams to play against teams of equal rank.
This is a biennial tournament in which the 55 teams of the UEFA affiliated federations will participate. The teams are divided into four competitions (A, B, C and D) depending on their coefficient. Each League is in turn divided into groups.
At the end of the tour dates, the first in each zone is promoted to the next category and the last is relegated. In addition, the top four of each competition play a “final four”. The top four in League A compete for the continental title.
The Eurocup, on the other hand, is the most important international tournament for national football teams in Europe and is also organized by UEFA, albeit every four years. Since 2016, there are 24 participating teams.
The Nations League was the idea of former footballer Michel Platini, who managed to implement it before he had to leave the UEFA presidency due to a corruption scandal. “Friendly matches no longer interest anyone: neither the fans, nor the journalists, nor the players,” the Frenchman criticized the international calendar at the time.
UEFA’s aim with the Nations League is to maintain public interest in the teams after the European Championship. To increase interest, the winners of each group will have the opportunity to obtain a ticket for the next edition of the Euro Cup.
The Eurocup still has a usual provisional ranking. 20 of the 24 places will be allocated, but only the best teams from the Nations League will have access to the remaining four. The winners of each of the 16 groups – or the next best teams that did not qualify through the usual classification – will play a play-off to compete for the four remaining places for the Euro Cup.
On the other hand, all UEFA teams can participate in the Nations League without the need for a qualifying stage, but each team is instead placed in a competition based on its performance in the previous season.
Source: Goal