http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Bienvenue-a-la-ligue-des-nations/519599

End of friendlies and end of the Euro as we know it after Euro 2016. Starting in 2018, the UEFA League of Nations has gotten the green light to start...

Hm. So there won't be any friendlies between countries of other continents anymore either? I had hoped they would scrap that UEFA League of Nations idea after I first heard of it...

It says that all international friendly dates will be taken over... so i assume that means trans-continental friendlies as well.

4 divisions based on UEFA coefficients... each division will have 4 groups.  Each group will play pool games (home and away) like the CL.  The winner of each pool will play elimination round games that will lead to division winners.  The winner of each division will meet in semis and then a final game in June 2019.

Well, we will see how long they will keep this. I'm sure the people in charge haven't really thought this through properly. ^^

It's already been approved by all the FAs in Europe and now UEFA gave an official green light... there's nothing more to hold it back tbh. It's happening and i love it.

I'm not talking about holding it back, I think more about a reassessment in due time.

Personally I'd find it pretty boring if the only international matches for Germany outside the World Cup are European teams. Ah well. We will see how things will develop.

Reason i like it is because these NT friendlies have become a farce... it's about trying out kids, experimenting systems and avoiding injury in all but the sexy games (which is a minority). So you get rid of this complete waste of time and make every game meaningful.

It also gets rid of a practice i detest: Calling kids up to the NT when they have dual nationality knowing full well that you have no intention of calling them when it truly matters. Dangling the carrot basically. Now, NT's are going to have to call the best 23 and you're not trying to pull wool over these kids' eyes.

Well, and my point why I dislike the idea is precisely the opposite of your reasoning - now it will be more difficult to try out new formations, new ideas and new players for the NTs.

BTW, if kids were called up to friendlies, it was non-consequential as only playing in a competitive match makes you ineligible for any other country, so I don't really understand this "dangling a carrot" thing. Now if a kid is called up to a competitive nations league game it is always a definite decision.

Kids refuse callups for the other nation though... once you do that, it's pretty tough to change your mind OR someone takes your place. Changing NTs at the youth level is no big deal because it's not very public. At the senior level though... wow. Just look at Costa.

On the other hand, it's good for NTs too. Once you call up a kid, he's yours and that's it.

what kind of shit is this

Oh we feel there are too many games?
Here's an idea, expand the European Championship to include 24 teams instead of 16.
And while we're at it, let's introduce another official competition for all those dates where the 'meaningless friendlies' take place.

If you are worried about workload and too much games, surely 'meaningless' friendlies are better for NTs to self-determine who and where to play, experiment with players, give players an opportunity to feature without tieing them to the NT, give regular starters a rest, scope young players from a bigger pool to see who takes their chance etc.
But hell, let's inflate the number of competition because those friendlies were so 'meaningless'.
Jesus.

Forget about all the bullshit arguments, there one reason and one reason only for this. UEFA wants to grab more money.
They saw that there are dates on the FIFA calendar where friendlies are taking place, and so they decide to put them under the roof of a official UEFA competition so they have them trademarked.
TV stations and everyone else has now got to use the logo of UEFA and this 'UEFA league of nations' (what it this, 1919? ffs), BROUGHT TO YOU BY HEINEKEN AND EADS etc pp, pubs everywhere have to pay to UEFA for broadcasting, and so forth.

It's nothing but a money grab, motivated by greed and the strive for control.
Detestable.

As someone whose never had anything nice to say about International Friendlies, I think this is an upgrade from the current system.

For those who dont know anything about it, heres a good English article

http://www.uefa.com/community/news/newsid=2079553.html