The European Football Union UEFA will also introduce the Nations League for women in autumn 2023. Associated with this is a new qualification mode for European Championships and World Championships.
In the future there will be two interrelated phases Nations League and the European qualifiers, which build on each other and are both played in a league format. This was announced by UEFA Nyon With. The change follows a recommendation from the UEFA Women’s Football Committee. The Nations League has existed for men since 2018.
As the UEFA Executive Committee decided, the new system provides for a combination of a newly introduced Nations League and a European qualification for the first time in the run-up to the EM 2025. Not only is there the chance of another title, the European Championship, World Cup and Olympics tickets will also be awarded in this way in the future.
he be “Convinced that this format will help all European national associations and keep alive the dream of qualifying for a major international tournament”said UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.
A new mode for more excitement
The decision can be interpreted as a reaction to the sporting inequality as well as too many one-sided games and high results in the qualification. The DFB women, for example, won nine out of ten games on the way to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and ultimately even had a goal difference of 47:5. It was similar with other top nations like England or France.
In the newly created Nations League, the teams initially play in a league format with three strength classes each in groups of four or three. Promotion and relegation games follow, as well as a final phase in which the four best teams fight for the title. In addition, the group phase is about creating a good starting position for the so-called European Qualifiers.
These will also be played in the same format on six matchdays. The eight best-placed teams in the final table of the A-League, the top tier, qualify directly for the EM 2025. The remaining starting places will be awarded over two playoff rounds in the first and second leg.
The final tables of the European qualification after promotion and relegation serve as a starting point for the subsequent Nations League.
The way to the Olympics also leads via the Nations League
Qualifying for the 2027 World Cup finals follows the same principles. Every four years, the Nations League final phase also serves as a qualification path for the Olympic football tournament, so the European representatives alongside France for the 2024 Olympics in Paris will be determined in the first edition. So far, these Olympic starting places have been allocated at the World Championships.