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#4 It should stop glamour sides from missing out on the Euros
Think back to Euro 2016 for a second – while it wasn’t a vintage tournament in terms of the quality of football that was played, it was cool to see sides like Wales, Hungary, Iceland and Albania – sides that wouldn’t usually qualify for big tournaments – appear in the competition, with some of them even doing quite well for themselves. But one negative point was that one of Europe’s traditional glamour sides – the Netherlands – didn’t make it.
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Sure, they only had themselves to blame as they finished 4th in a qualifying group behind the Czech Republic, Iceland and Turkey, but let’s be honest – the tournament felt weird without them, didn’t it?
Well – as shady as this might seem to some fans – due to the Nations League, the likelihood of a European Championship without a glamour side is now probably slim. That’s because the Nations League links into the Euro qualifiers, albeit in a somewhat convoluted fashion.
Basically, the Euro 2020 qualifiers – which take place in March, June, September, October and November 2019 – will see the teams split into ten groups of either 5 or 6 sides, with the top two sides in each group qualifying. That produces 20 teams – so where do the other 4 sides come from?
The Nations League, of course. So if a team fails to qualify for the Euros the old-fashioned way, but wins their Nations League group, then they automatically make a playoff round to qualify for the tournament. The big caveat? If the Nations League group winner has already qualified, then the next best side of that group makes the play-off round.
So returning to the Netherlands for a second. Even if they finish bottom of their Nations League group – which features France and Germany – assuming those two giants qualify, the Netherlands would automatically make the Euro 2020 playoffs. And that means the likelihood of them missing Euro 2020 is much smaller than before.
