Several league campaigns might have come to an expiration, however, there is still much footballing action to relish this summer, beginning with the Nations League finals which starts in June.
The Nations League which is an international competition that is held every two years and is battled by European countries, is into its third edition.
Four nations are left in the 2022/23 edition and these sides would contest against each other in the Netherlands to decide who comes out victorious.
Host nation Netherland are accompanied by Croatia, Italy and Spain as the four countries contesting in two semi-final fixtures and the grande finale.
The semi-final and final will be played in a period of four days between the 14th till the 18th of June.
That is just the tip of the iceberg as Futballnews brings to you detailed insights keeping you abreast with what is set to be a grueling four days of International action.
Four Top-10 Countries Battle In The Penultimate Affair of the Nations League
The quartet of nations set to play in the finals are presently ranked in the top 10 of FIFA’s world rankings.
Netherland are the highest ranked nation in 6th position, closely followed by Croatia in 7th position.
The Azzurri of Italy occupy the 8th spot while La Roja of Spain who are tutored by Luis de la Fuente sit 10th on the rankings.
Only Croatia come into the Nations League finals with no previous experience at this stage.
The Oranje of Netherland were runners up in the maiden edition won by Portugal in 2019.
Spain also defeated Italy in the semi-finals in 2021, before they were comprehensively beaten in the final by France.
Speaking ahead of the final, Virgil Van Dijk expressed how tasking it is for players to find their strength at the end of the season but his teammates are determined to win.
He said: “It can be difficult finding the energy at the end of the season but in our case, almost 10 of our squad have already experienced a Nations League final and want to win it.”
He also revealed that they have learnt some things from their 2019 final defeat to Portugal.
Van Dijk said: “After losing the final against Portugal, we realised that we should have handled it better. It was the first edition, we didn’t really know how or what.”
The Liverpool defender did admit that the Checkered Ones are a tough preposition to play against.
He said: “Now the feeling is definitely there. We’d like to win the prize although Croatia is a tough team to beat.”
The Croatians appear to making their debut in the Nations League finals, however, they are on a rich vein of form.
They finished at the summit of Group A1, courtsey of a big win in France on the 13th of June 2022.
Many also wouldn’t be quick to forget the impressive showing of the Croats at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
They made it all the way to the semis before they were defeated by eventual victors Argentina.
However, a slim 2-1 victory over Morocco handed them a third place finish in the tournament.
Ronald Koeman’s Netherland are also in a remarkable run of form, with their six matches unbeaten qualification journey for the Nations League finals consisting a fraction of a 20-match unbeaten run under Louis van Gaal.
That run was blighted by France in March 2023 and they also made it to the quarter final in Qatar before losing in a penalty shoot-out to Argentina.
For Spain, the team was coached by ex-Barcelona manager Luis Enrique during the world cup.
La Roja had a below par outing in the mundial as they lost shockingly to Morocco in the round of 16.
Enrique left his duties as the manager of Spain and he was replaced by Luis de la Fuente.
Fuente has had a shaky start to his Spain senior managerial career, defeating Norway prior to a 2-0 loss by Scotland in qualifying matches for Euro 2024.
Current champions of Europe, Italy, failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup as they surprisingly lost to North Macedonia in the qualifying play-off games.
The Azzurri finished at the summit of a competitive Nations League group that also housed England, Germany and Hungary.
However, they have been shaky ever since, losing two of their previous four matches.
That included a 2-1 loss to Gareth Southgate’s England in the qualifiers for Euro 2024.
The last two Nations League finals have been held in Portugal and Italy respectively, however, the current edition would go down in the Netherland.
The two venues selected for the matches are the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam and the home ground of FC Twente; De Grolsch Veste in Enschede.
Feyenoord’s ground is also known as De Kuip and the 47,500 capacity stadium would host the final.
The home ground of FC Twente would host the final and it is a 30,000 seater stadium.
Ronald Koeman is looking ahead to the semis and he has set his sights on the trophy.
Koeman said: “We can win a trophy in our own country.
“We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. There are four strong countries and there is little to choose between us.”
The draw to determine which teams would go up against each other was done on the 25th of January 2023 in Nyon, Switzerland.
The draw pitted Netherland against Croatia in the first semi-final while Spain would play Italy in the second semi-final.
Euro 2024 Qualification Route, Altering Of Tournament Format Amongst Others
Like it was indicated previously, this is the third edition of biennial tournament designed by the European football governing body.
It was put in place to create another competition for countries in Europe alongside the World Cup and European Championships.
The 2022/23 edition commenced in May 2022 with three leagues of 16 nations and a fourth of seven nations.
League A – the top-tier level, League B – the second tier and League C – were divided into four groups of four, while League D consists of a group of 4 alongside a group of 3.
Those who come out victorious in League A qualify automatically to the semis, while winners of each group in B, C and D get promoted to an higher division.
Countries who finished bottom of their groups in League A and B – one of which was the Three Lions of England, are relegated.
Those in League C got into a play-off to determine who is relegated to League D.
In June, UEFA made an announcement that 3 out of the 24 spots at the 2024 Euro Championships will be decided by play-off places through the 2022/23 Nations League.
12 nations will be chosen as a result of their performances in the 2022/23 Nations League, customarily, the group winners of Leagues A, B, and C.
But one plot twist is that if they have already made it through to the next stage, the next best placed nation would replace them.
If there is a scarcity of non qualified nations in that particular league, then it trickles down to the next division, ending with League D.
UEFA also revealed in 2023 that it would amend the Nation’s League format for the 2024/25 edition.
That would result in the eventuality of quarter-finals and promotion play-offs to make it a more competitive tournament.
The European football’s governing body also announced a Women’s Nations League will commence in late 2023 during the autumn season.
It will be a prelude to the Women’s European Championship in 2025 and it will also act as a buildup to the tournament.
