The new UEFA competition will begin in September next year and will serve as a supplement to the qualifications for Euro 2020.
The Croatian national football team will play in the elite class, or "League A" of the UEFA Nations League, a new national team competition that begins after the World Cup finals, reports Goal.hr on October 11, 2017.
The new competition, which will begin in September 2018, was conceived as a substitute for friendly matches.
For the UEFA Nations League, a total of 55 nations are divided into groups A to D, depending on their coefficient in the past three qualifying cycles (World Cup 2014, Euro 2016, World Cup 2018) and major tournaments in Brazil and France, announced UEFA on Wednesday.
Croatia will play at home and away against two elite European teams in "League A" which includes Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland and Italy. The teams will be divided into four groups of three and the draw for the groups will be held on January 24, 2018.
The winners of each group will advance to the UEFA Nations League Finals (consisting of semi-finals, third-place match, and finals) in June 2019 where one team will be crowned the winner of the UEFA Nations League. A host country will be chosen in December 2018 among the finalists.
The four teams that finish at the bottom of their group will drop down to League B for the competition in 2020.
The Nations League will also serve as a supplementary competition for Euro 2020. The top four ranked teams in each league that fail to qualify for Euro 2020 will enter a playoff round in March of 2020.
The group stage matches (one at home and away) will be played from September to November next year.
Here is a look at the UEFA Nations League calendar:
Group stage draw*: 24 January 2018 – SwissTech Convention Centre, Lausanne Matchday 1: 6–8 September 2018
Matchday 2: 9–11 September 2018
Matchday 3: 11–13 October 2018
Matchday 4: 14–16 October 2018
Matchday 5: 15–17 November 2018
Matchday 6: 18–20 November 2018
Finals draw: early December 2018
Finals: 5–9 June 2019
UEFA EURO 2020 play-off draw: 22 November 2019
UEFA EURO 2020 play-offs: 26–31 March 2020
What do you think?
Translated from Goal.hr
