UEFA Nations League: A new frontier for our Ethniki Omada

The Ethniki Omada has once again come into the spotlight with the inaugural draw of the UEFA Nations League (UNL) pitting us against Hungary, Finland and Estonia. After such a disappointing result in the World Cup playoff tie against Croatia, the Ethniki will be looking for a fresh start in one of world football’s most interesting new competitions.

The UNL was created by UEFA to spice things up in international football with friendly games being
deemed too drab and meaningless. Thus, the UNL was created with the aim of having more competitive fixtures to replace the friendlies. UEFA national teams have been divided into four leagues (A,B,C and D) based on existing coefficient rankings and were then drawn into groups of 3 or 4. The aim is to win the League however this can only be achieved by League A teams, whilst the other leagues play for relegation and promotion within the four-tiered UEFA pyramid.

The inaugural UNL campaign will begin after the FIFA World Cup, in September before wrapping
up in November. This way, the teams will know of their European Championship playoff status
(more about that later) by the time qualification begins in March 2019. The actual format of the UNL
group stage is very similar to a Champions League campaign and a qualification campaign with games against all group members both home and away. This will be a total of 4 or 6 games, depending on the number of teams in the respective group.

Greece’s group is set, with our boys to do battle with Hungary, Finland and Estonia in group C2.
The draw is an interesting one in that Greece has played against all opponents fairly recently with
Hungary and Finland featuring in the notorious Euro 2016 qualification group whilst Estonia featured
In our latest qualification campaign, and played out a turgid 0-0 draw in Athens, proving decisive as
Greece lost pace at the summit of the group with Belgium.

Cyprus have also been dealt an interesting draw in group C3, coming up against the likes of Norway,
Slovenia and Bulgaria.

The two other League C groups are:
Scotland, Albania and Israel in group C1
Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Lithuania in group C4

The first-place team in each group will be promoted to League B, hence four promotion places up for grabs in League C. The four last-place teams will face relegation to League D.

However, promotion is not the only reward for the top-placed team in the group. The UNL also has a huge impact on Euro 2020 qualifying. As well as promotion, the top-placed teams will now receive a play-off spot for Euro qualification if they fail to qualify directly in the qualification phase. This is a huge incentive for Greece however it must be stressed that it is also a double-edged sword. Whilst it can assure Greece of a playoff spot before qualification even begins, it could also be the impetus for a languid campaign, with players taking it easy knowing they have a playoff spot wrapped up. The latter would be a huge blow, considering Greece’s latest result in a playoff, coupled with our performance throughout the whole Euro 2016 campaign illustrating the fact that Greece needs to lift in qualification.

The Nations League looks set to be an interesting experiment, with pundits eager to see how it unfolds. For more information about the format of the league, which has confused even the most diehard of football fans, visit: Nations League Official Site

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