Euro and Nations League qualifying gets a makeover

The Nations League will be expanded with an additional knockout round, but qualifying will become more compact. In Nations League A, group winners and runners-up will now play quarter-finals (home and away) with a place in the Final Four at stake. This will happen in March, to bridge the group stage , which ends at the end of November, and the Final Four, in June. Countries finishing third in League A and runners-up in League B will contest play-offs for retention or promotion, as will number three in League B and runners-up in League C.

The European qualifiers will feature 12 groups of five or four countries (instead of 10 groups of six or five). Qualifying will start in March for most countries, in a pool of five. The countries, which will participate in the League of Nations, will start in June. The countries poured into a group of four will play their first match in September. For the Euro, there will no longer be two automatic qualifiers per group. The first remain directly qualified, as well as the best second. The other runners-up will have to go through play-offs with those drafted from the League of Nations. For the World Cup, which increases to 48 nations (including 16 European), the first and best second also remain directly qualified and the other second will compete in play-offs for the last tickets.

The 2023 European Super Cup, between the Champions League and Europa League winners, will be played at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium in the Greek capital on Wednesday August 16. Slovakia has been awarded the organization of the 2025 European U21 Championship.