UEFA has announced plans to introduce a Champions League-style format to national team qualification in Europe in time for the 2030 World Cup.
The 36 highest-ranked countries will be split into three groups of 12 in League A and will be drawn to play six of those teams, similar to the ‘Swiss system’ which was introduced in the new league phase of UEFA’s club competitions since the start of the 2024-25 season.
League B will feature three groups of six, or two of six and one of seven — depending on the number of competing nations.
Full details of how qualification will be achieved are still to be fine-tuned, but UEFA did confirm that the three group winners in League A would qualify direct for the finals of the Euro or World Cup, with the rest to be allocated via a system of playoffs involving teams from both leagues.
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The format would keep the highest and lowest-ranked teams apart and therefore, in theory, prevent too many one-sided qualifiers.
UEFA’s executive committee is set to fully sign off the new format for Euro and World Cup qualification at a meeting in September.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “The new formats will improve competitive balance, reduce the number of dead matches, offer a more appealing and dynamic competition to fans, while ensuring a fair qualification chance for all teams and without adding any additional dates in the international calendar.
“Altogether, the changes will grow the value of UEFA men’s national team football and we are very much looking forward to the implementation of the new competition systems.”
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Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, who sits on UEFA’s national teams competition committee, spoke in November on how important it was to overhaul the existing qualification format.
He said: “We need to keep looking at ways to make international football even better and there’s genuine appetite to do that.”
Under the proposal, 2030 co-hosts Spain and Portugal would qualify automatically for the finals but would still enter the qualifying competition with objectives linked to the Nations League.
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UEFA also intends to make changes to the Nations League format, starting from the 2028-29 edition.
Instead of four leagues, UEFA is planning to introduce three leagues of 18 teams each.
Every league will be composed of three groups, each made up of six teams, playing five opponents. The existing quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be played, as now, in the March and June international windows.
