UEFA Nations League - extratime.ie has it covered

Certain Ireland players, like Declan Rice and Harry Arter, and the whole professional Danish squad don’t seem overly enthusiastic about the UEFA Nations League, which kicks off this week, but here at extratime.ie we are all over the competition.

We are covering a couple of games over the next few days: our reporter Brendan Graham is travelling to Cardiff for the Republic of Ireland match against Wales, while we will have the Northern Ireland match against Bosnia & Herzgovina this Saturday in Belfast covered from both the press box and pitch side with a reporter and photographer combination.

Just in case you haven’t been paying attention to UEFA’s latest complicated competition, here is a bit more background.

UEFA’s 55 countries have been split according to their international rankings into four leagues (A, B, C and D), with each league having four groups. Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland's rankings put them in League B.

In the draw made back in January at the Swiss Tech Centre in Lausanne, Martin O’Neill’s men were drawn in a group against Wales and Denmark while Michael O’Neill’s men got Bosnia & Herzgovinia and Austria with the group matches now scheduled to be played off over the next three months. 

The group winners from League B will be promoted to League A, while the bottom sides in each group from League B will be relegated to League C for the next competition, to be played in 2020. 

In relation to EURO 2020 qualifying, the main route to make the finals still remains the European Qualifiers, which run from March to November 2019, with the top two in each of the ten qualifying groups automatically make the tournament.

However there is a back door route to the finals available through the UEFA Nations League for the final spots available in the 24-team competition.

The rankings from the Nations League will determine the seedings for those European Qualifiers. However, rather than have the third placed teams enter a play-off (the route Ireland took to EURO 2016), the last four places will be allocated through the UEFA Nations League. 

The group winners in each of the four leagues will take part in the March 2020 play-off for those last four places at the European Championship.

However, if any group winners have already qualified through the European Qualifiers, then their play-off position will be allocated to the next best-ranked team of the league in question, taking into account the global ranking within the league, and then if necessary to the following league in decreasing order, taking into consideration the global ranking of the relevant league.

16 sides will take part in those play-offs, to allocate the final four places for the Euros, with a EURO 2020 place available for one team from each of the four leagues.

Looking at League B, which will capture most of the attention on this island, the four group winners, or the next highest ranked teams in League B that do not qualify for EURO 2020, will enter that March 2020 four-team play-off.

These will take place after the European Qualifiers are complete with one final place on offer for League B teams via a single leg semi-final (the better-ranked team based on their performance in the Nations League will host that semi).

There will then be a single-leg final with the host decided by a draw. It is a similar format for the other three League play-off positions.

A reminder that Dublin will host three group matches in EURO 2020 and one last 16 match. Should we make it, we will play two of our three group games at the Aviva. Dublin has been twinned with Bilbao for those finals so if Ireland qualify we will be in the same group as Spain should they make the finals. 

Having suffered a wrist injury, the FAI confirmed on Tuesday that James McClean will miss the Wales match and the upcoming Poland game. While defender Shane Duffy and midfielder David Meyler had sat out Monday’s training session, both players were involved in Tuesday’s training which also included goalkeeper Sean McDermott and striker Jonathan Walters who both joined up with the squad.

Republic of Ireland Squad
Goalkeepers: Colin Doyle (Hearts), Sean McDermott (Kristiansund BK), Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough)
Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Cyrus Christie (Fulham), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Richard Keogh (Derby County), Ciaran Clark (Newcastle United), Kevin Long, Stephen Ward (Burnley), John Egan, Enda Stevens (Sheffield United)
Midfielders: Alan Judge (Brentford), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Shaun Williams (Millwall), David Meyler (Reading), Daryl Horgan (Hibernian), Callum O'Dowda (Bristol City)
Forwards: Jonathan Walters (Ipswich Town), Graham Burke, Callum Robinson (Preston North End), Aiden O'Brien (Millwall)

Squad Update | James McClean has been ruled out of our UEFA Nations League opener with a wrist injury sustained in training. The midfielder will undergo surgery today. We wish James a speedy recovery. #COYBIGpic.twitter.com/bh5nK1sPmO

— FAIreland (@FAIreland) September 4, 2018