CONCACAF Nations League

[CanadianSoccerFan]

I can understand having a global Nations League Championship for the top division but not for the 6 divisions below it.  Being crowned Division 7 champion of the Global Nations League just sounds a tad farcical.

[SpecialK]

1 hour ago, dsqpr said:

Just out of interest, when are professional footballers supposed to rest?

The club season is already 9 months long and European players already have a major international tournament every other summer.

It will  definitely test out player pool depth of each country. 

[Obinna]

I don't like this idea of a global nations league at all.

I like the WC being the premier international competition. It is a rare chance to see the top nations from different confederations face off in competitive play. If we regularly see Italy or Spain or Germany face Brazil or Argentina in competitive matches, it takes away the appeal of the WC for me.

[matty]

41 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I don't like this idea of a global nations league at all.

I like the WC being the premier international competition. It is a rare chance to see the top nations from different confederations face off in competitive play. If we regularly see Italy or Spain or Germany face Brazil or Argentina in competitive matches, it takes away the appeal of the WC for me.

I agree and if this proves a harder competition then it basically makes the cup secondary. 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Mock league made by Yahoo journalist Henry Bushnell based on the leaked proposals

https://twitter.com/HenryBushnell/status/928098427401011201

 

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by CanadianSoccerFan

[matty]

2 hours ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Mock league made by Yahoo journalist Henry Bushnell based on the leaked proposals

https://twitter.com/HenryBushnell/status/928098427401011201

 

 

Canada vs Bosnia is possible?!?! Time of revenge on Begovic

[Lou]

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-concacaf/concacaf-close-to-agreement-on-new-nations-league-plan-source-idUKKBN1D81FD

 

Quote

A new Nations League tournament, for teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean, is close to being agreed upon with an expected start in September, 2018, a person with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.

CONCACAF, which governs the sport in the region, has been consulting with its 41 national associations, which includes the United States and Mexico, about a competition which will be similar to UEFA’s Nations League, which is due to begin in Europe in September.

The person, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the new competition as it has yet to be formally agreed by CONCACAF, said an announcement of the plan was imminent.

“It has been a long process of discussions for many months but an agreement is close and a public announcement is imminent,” said the source.

The precise format and structure of the competition has yet to be settled but it is expected to broadly follow a similar approach to UEFA’s new competition which replaces friendly matches with competitive games on FIFA’s international dates.

Last week, UEFA and FIFA said that discussions have been taking place about expanding the Nations League concept globally.

While discussions are at a relatively early stage, one of the ideas that has been floated in media reports is for regional or continental ‘leagues’ with a mini-tournament involving the winners from across the world.

Such mini-tournaments could also be held for teams from the lower ‘divisions’ from different confederations, creating a sort of ‘minnows World Cup’.

UEFA’s Nations League starts will feature four divisions of national teams with the competition also offering an opportunity to qualify for the European Championship, which is held every four years.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Lou

[Kent]

I have been trying to follow along with the developments in this, but that grid from Henry Bushnell seems to be showing some things that I didn't think have been mentioned yet.

Does his grid imply that the groups would always be region specific? Would you only promote/relegate within your region? Are the group allocations per region per league set in stone or can that change too? For example, a team like New Zealand, do they have any way of moving up beyond League 4? Or could Asia one day lose their League 1 group? Or Europe lose/gain a group in League 1?

Are any of these things already out there and I missed it?

Also interesting to note that the grid as well as the article that Lou posted both include non-FIFA members from CONCACAF. ie: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, etc.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Kent
Apparently "behond" isn't a word.

[Lou]

1 hour ago, Kent said:

I have been trying to follow along with the developments in this, but that grid from Henry Bushnell seems to be showing some things that I didn't think have been mentioned yet.

They're two different proposals.

I made this thread when it was first mentioned that CONCACAF want their own version of the UEFA Nations League.
Then a few months ago, there were rumours that non-UEFA associations were lobbying UEFA for inclusion in future editions or FIFA for the creation of a new competition ("Global Nations League").

[Kent]

29 minutes ago, Lou said:

They're two different proposals.

I made this thread when it was first mentioned that CONCACAF want their own version of the UEFA Nations League.
Then a few months ago, there were rumours that non-UEFA associations were lobbying UEFA for inclusion in future editions or FIFA for the creation of a new competition ("Global Nations League").

Yes, and I've tried to keep up with that global nations league as well. I remember it mentioning OFC in the 4th tier, and I think it mentioned something about the number of teams in the top tier, but I don't remember it explicitly saying groups would be regionally based, or how promotion/relegation might work.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

5 hours ago, Kent said:

Yes, and I've tried to keep up with that global nations league as well. I remember it mentioning OFC in the 4th tier, and I think it mentioned something about the number of teams in the top tier, but I don't remember it explicitly saying groups would be regionally based, or how promotion/relegation might work.

 

 

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/blog/marcottis-musings/62/post/3251467/how-the-global-nations-league-could-actually-work

Q&A: How would the proposed Global Nations League actually work?

3 Nov, 2017

·         Gabriele Marcotti

It could potentially represent the biggest overhaul in international football since, well, the creation of the World Cup itself nearly a century ago. The proposal by a number of confederations, led by UEFA, to introduce a truly global international football competition along the lines of the UEFA Nations League is bound to have far-reaching implications.

Here's an attempt to make sense of it.

Q: So, the UEFA Nations League -- what's that?

A: Haven't you been paying attention? It's a new UEFA competition for national sides that kicks off in September 2018. Basically, countries get split into four divisions (which UEFA calls "leagues") based on ranking, with 12 teams in the top two leagues, 15 in the third and 16 in the fourth.

Each league gets split into four groups, they play each other home and away and the group winners advance to a "Final Four" while the bottom four are "relegated" to the division below for the next Nations League cycle. They play semifinals and finals and an overall winner in each division is crowned.

(You can read more here.)

Q: So they want to make a global version of this? How would that work?

A: Apparently so. Details are to be determined, but there are a couple of proposals floating around. One of the more credible ones basically mimics the Nations League across each confederation: you play home and away games in your group, and you move up or down at the end of the group stage. If you're in the top league and you win your group, you get to go to a "finals tournament" at the end against the group winners from the rest of the world.

Q: Wait, is this another World Cup? How many teams would be involved in that?

A: Just eight actually, at least at the top. Remember: there are three top division groups in Europe and they'll probably have two for South America, albeit with just three teams each and then one each for Asia, Africa and CONCACAF.

Q: What about Oceania?

A: I figured you'd ask that. They don't get a top division -- not when their best side, New Zealand, is ranked 122 in the world. But they still get to play and participate. The top Oceania group will probably be a fourth-tier group.

Q: What about the other confederations? Care to speculate about how those would work?

A: It's just a proposal right now, but based on FIFA rankings, you'd imagine Asia would have one top league with Iran, Australia, Japan and China, whereas CONCACAF would line up Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Panama. South America would likely have two three-team top leagues: one with, say, Brazil, Colombia and Peru and one with Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

Q: So when they do play this? Won't it wreak havoc with the calendar?

A: They don't think it will. It's six games at most for each group, so they'd play them over the international dates in June and September and then have the "Final Eight" the following year in June. Basically, it's the same dates as before, but instead of playing meaningless friendlies, they'll be playing competitive matches.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Q: So how will the Final Eight work?

A: It's a straight knockout with quarterfinals, semifinal and final. And, I'd assume, it would be hosted somewhere in a neutral venue.

Q: So teams might have to fly halfway around the world to play a single game if they get knocked out in the quarterfinals?

A: Yes. That's one of the potential pitfalls here. And I guess they'll need to make it financially appetizing enough so that Tunisia, for example, are happy to fly to, say, Japan just to lose to Brazil in the quarterfinal. That said, there will be three other losing quarterfinalists, so I guess they could play against them in a friendly. Still, that's not the end of it.

Q: Oh?

A: Yeah. The long-term idea after all is to have a Final Eight for every division -- including the seventh division at the very bottom of the totem pole. That's where you have countries that aren't even FIFA members but are members of their confederations, like Kiribati, Guadeloupe or Zanzibar. In theory, if they win their groups, they could go to their seventh division Final Eight too. And then you might have an "Elite Eight" involving San Marino, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Djibouti, Seychelles, Tuvalu, East Timor and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Q: Who's going to watch that? And who would want to host that?

A: I don't know, the folks who live there I guess? And I'd assume anybody with a nearby airport, some hotel rooms and two viable pitches would be qualified to host. But the point is that everybody would have something to play for and the games would mean something. For countries who will only get to watch not just a World Cup but a Gold Cup or a Euro or an African Cup of Nations on TV, actually going to a tournament like this would be a big deal.

Truth be told, it's just a proposal at this stage, and I guess this is something they'd need to work out. But there's a broader impetus behind it.

Q: Which is?

A: Well, you want to get countries playing competitive games against teams of equal stature. This does that. At the very top, it means the big boys face other with something meaningful at stake and that generates money -- big money. It also revitalizes the international scene, which can honestly feel rather empty and lame outside of major tournaments (or South American qualifying). It's also a way of making every country, no matter how small, feel part of a greater whole -- something the World Cup doesn't really do since so many simply get knocked out straight away in qualifying.

Q: OK, but it's FIFA so ultimately it's all about the cash, right?

A: Well, it's not quite FIFA actually. The proposal actually comes from UEFA originally. UEFA created the Nations League to give international football a boost and other confederations, namely CONCACAF and Asia, have studied similar proposals. My guess is that at least four of the confederations are on board with it, and I suspect the other two will follow. At that point, FIFA kinda has to go along with it.

And sure, it's about money too. UEFA have shown that by selling broadcast and commercial rights centrally, they can generate big revenues and not just with the Champions' League either, but with internationals too. Obviously, if they can replicate even a fraction of that success on a global scale, then every FA benefits.

Q: It just seems that if you're mobilizing 223 nations -- that's how many there are, counting the non-FIFA members who are members of their confederation -- it's awfully expensive to organize and televise.

A: It is, although remember the groups are regional so that mitigates some of it, and the Final Eights are all in one venue. Plus, all these games are already televised somewhere. And if you consider how much, say, Brazil vs. Germany with something meaningful at stake can generate, that pays for a lot of flights and hotel rooms. There's even talk of maybe getting some sort of global, OTT (Over The Top) sponsor like an Amazon or an Alibaba as a partner to stream everything.

If they weren't confident that it could pay for itself, they wouldn't be doing it.

Q: So when is this going to happen -- if it happens -- and will it be a success?

A: There's talk that it could be as early as 2020, but more realistically, I'd imagine we're looking at 2022. Will it be successful? I don't know: it's really tough to say also because we don't know if the UEFA Nations League will work for the simple reason it hasn't yet taken place.

At the very least, I'd imagine it would be more interesting than the tripe we get served up now in friendly internationals with their 10 substitutions...

 

[Obinna]

On 11/3/2017 at 6:43 PM, CanadianSoccerFan said:

 

LONDON (AP) — Disappointed the World Cup comes around only every four years?

Find the early games tedious?

 

 

 

  

 

I love the group stage.

[matty]

31 minutes ago, Obinna said:

I love the group stage.

Even if Honduras are in ours?

[Jith12]

12 minutes ago, matty said:

Even if Honduras are in ours?

San Perdo Sula piss bags, here we come!

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Victor Montagliani:  "We (CONCACAF) have some big announcements coming up in the next 48 hours"

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/victor-montagliani-cocnacaf-italy-world-cup/

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Three divisions beginning in September 2018.  Format to be finalized in February.

 

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-manchester-utd-results/rise-in-broadcasting-income-lifts-manchester-united-revenue-idUKKBN1DG1O3

 

Exclusive - CONCACAF agrees to launch new Nations League

Simon Evans

4 MIN READ

•  
•  

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - CONCACAF’s governing council has agreed to launch a new Nations League tournament, for teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean, president Victor Montagliani told Reuters on Thursday.

The competition will begin in the international dates in September, 2018 and will feature all 41 member countries of the confederation which includes Mexico and the United States.

Those nations will be split into three divisions, based on their “sporting level” with promotion and relegation. The tournament will also serve as a qualifying route to the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

 

“This new tournament is highly beneficial to all our member associations and fans everywhere, since it provides significant opportunities to play important competitive matches with increased regularity throughout the year,” Montagliani said in a telephone interview.

“The biggest difference between our Nations League and the UEFA, is that their nations were already playing a significant amount of games... But for us it was to allow our countries to play a mininum amount of games over a four year window,” added the Canadian.

“Our bigger countries have the capacity to do that but the way our system was, in my opinion was archaic and you had countries who were playing four to six games in a four year period. It is kind of hard then to develop football in any capacity,” he said.

FRIENDLY MATCHES

With a large number of teams who have never featured in the World Cup and who have struggled to organise and finance friendly matches, Montagliani said CONCACAF had a real need for games in order to help teams progress.

“Sure, some countries are not necessarily going to win the World Cup, but that is not the point. The point is that everybody deserves, the basic necessities to try to develop their game and I think this League of Nations provides a great platform for all 41 countries,” he said.

Montagliani said the format, which will be finalised in detail by February, would ensure that all teams have the resources to feature in the competition.

“This allows the smaller countries to participate at a minimum level which has not always been the case in the past,” he said.

 

As well as winning the backing of national federation presidents across the region, CONCACAF have had discussions with potential broadcast partners who Montagliani said had shown interest.

He said the new tournament was proof that the confederation, which under its previous leaderships was heavily implicated in the FIFA corruption scandal, was now focusing on the right areas.

“I said when I was elected that it is time for this confederation to be about football. We have been looking at all our competitions and this is the continuation of our philosophy that football is first. This confederation needs to show that - and we have.”

 

[Jith12]

7 minutes ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Three divisions beginning in September 2018.  Format to be finalized in February.

 

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-manchester-utd-results/rise-in-broadcasting-income-lifts-manchester-united-revenue-idUKKBN1DG1O3

 

Exclusive - CONCACAF agrees to launch new Nations League

Simon Evans

4 MIN READ

•  
•  

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - CONCACAF’s governing council has agreed to launch a new Nations League tournament, for teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean, president Victor Montagliani told Reuters on Thursday.

The competition will begin in the international dates in September, 2018 and will feature all 41 member countries of the confederation which includes Mexico and the United States.

Those nations will be split into three divisions, based on their “sporting level” with promotion and relegation. The tournament will also serve as a qualifying route to the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

 

“This new tournament is highly beneficial to all our member associations and fans everywhere, since it provides significant opportunities to play important competitive matches with increased regularity throughout the year,” Montagliani said in a telephone interview.

“The biggest difference between our Nations League and the UEFA, is that their nations were already playing a significant amount of games... But for us it was to allow our countries to play a mininum amount of games over a four year window,” added the Canadian.

“Our bigger countries have the capacity to do that but the way our system was, in my opinion was archaic and you had countries who were playing four to six games in a four year period. It is kind of hard then to develop football in any capacity,” he said.

FRIENDLY MATCHES

With a large number of teams who have never featured in the World Cup and who have struggled to organise and finance friendly matches, Montagliani said CONCACAF had a real need for games in order to help teams progress.

“Sure, some countries are not necessarily going to win the World Cup, but that is not the point. The point is that everybody deserves, the basic necessities to try to develop their game and I think this League of Nations provides a great platform for all 41 countries,” he said.

Montagliani said the format, which will be finalised in detail by February, would ensure that all teams have the resources to feature in the competition.

“This allows the smaller countries to participate at a minimum level which has not always been the case in the past,” he said.

 

As well as winning the backing of national federation presidents across the region, CONCACAF have had discussions with potential broadcast partners who Montagliani said had shown interest.

He said the new tournament was proof that the confederation, which under its previous leaderships was heavily implicated in the FIFA corruption scandal, was now focusing on the right areas.

“I said when I was elected that it is time for this confederation to be about football. We have been looking at all our competitions and this is the continuation of our philosophy that football is first. This confederation needs to show that - and we have.”

 

I assume that since that there are only 3 divisions and 41 teams, we will be in div 1?

[matty]

Change of plans it seems. Guessing tier 3 will be like 21 teams

[Zem]

Love this, great to hear that things are moving along on schedule. Hopefully this'll be a huge boon for the mid-size and small nations, and help the confederation as a whole become more competitive.

24 minutes ago, Jith12 said:

I assume that since that there are only 3 divisions and 41 teams, we will be in div 1?

We're ranked 10th in CONCACAF currently and won't get the chance to play competitive games before Nations League starts, so it's not certain. Like @matty says, the tiers likely won't be equal in size and it'll depend how "elite" they want the top divison to be. That said, "sporting level" seems to indicate that initial distribution might not just be based on FIFA rankings, so we might get in that way since we're a large country.

I don't think it matters much though, either we start in the top division where we want to be or we get to prove that we deserve to be there by winning promotion from the second division and earn some decent ranking points along the way.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Zem

[matty]

Suspect

1 - 10 teams with 2 leagues of 5. Bottom of each goes down.

2 - 12 teams with 3 leagues of 4. Bottom 3 go down. 2nd to last 3 do play-offs. Top team in a group goes up.

3 - 19 teams with 5 leagues of 3 and 1 of 4. Best 3 overall go up and weaker group winners do playoffs.

All top tier and top 2 in each tier 2 group do gold cup

Edited November 16, 2017 by matty

[ray]

18 minutes ago, matty said:

Suspect

1 - 10 teams with 2 leagues of 5

2 - 12 teams with 3 leagues of 4. Bottom 3 go down. 2nd to last 3 do play-offs

3 - 19 teams with 5 leagues of 3 and 1 of 4. Best 3 overall go up and weaker group winners do playoffs.

All top tier and top 2 in each tier 2 group do gold cup

Yes, looks likely there will be groups or "leagues" as you call them within the tiers.  Canada would be low-ranked in a tier 1 group or highly-ranked if in tier 2.  Interested to hear the number of teams promoted/relegated between the tiers.

But so nice for the fans to have something regular to follow.

Wonder whether this put an end to the Central American and Caribbean competitions if they are no longer Gold Cup qualification tournaments.

[matty]

16 minutes ago, ray said:

Yes, looks likely there will be groups or "leagues" as you call them within the tiers.  Canada would be low-ranked in a tier 1 group or highly-ranked if in tier 2.  Interested to hear the number of teams promoted/relegated between the tiers.

But so nice for the fans to have something regular to follow.

Wonder whether this put an end to the Central American and Caribbean competitions if they are no longer Gold Cup qualification tournaments.

I doubt it out right ends them but wonder if auto qualifying for canada us and mexico is done

[Kent]

Good to hear it's official now, but it would have been nice to hear some more details. I was/am kind of hoping to start out in the second tier and earn our way up. But either way I am looking forward to this starting.

When Montagliani took over as CONCACAF president I had a few hopes. The changes to CCL was a step backwards, but having CONCACAF wide qualifying for the Gold Cup was on my wish list. It looks like this will address that.

[IceCreamMan]

Would these games cap tie?

[ray]

1 minute ago, IceCreamMan said:

Would these games cap tie?

I can't see why they would not.  Otherwise, the logical implication is that they are not part of an official FIFA competition (and yet might determine qualification for official competitions like Gold Cup or World Cup seeding).  The only question would be the status of matches involving non-FIFA members within CONCACAF.