dohadeer

I don’t personally think that any of them are better than Belgium - in fact, I don’t think that any international team is better than Belgium. I’m just explaining how the seeding system works.

That’s what I thought, thanks. As much as I may disagree or argue with people, I don’t resort to abuse, or offensive comments, or anything along the lines of racism/homophobia or any other form of bigotry. As I wouldn’t in real life either. I hope that nothing I do would merit a ban, but I do sometimes get worried about being banned, when I’m involved in arguments that veer off topic!

The pot 1 teams are presumably the four teams who reached the Nations League finals last time around?

I didn’t know that, that’s why I was asking. I’ve been treading on eggshells at times, because I assumed that once you were gone, that was it! I’m not someone who is good with technology, who knows how to pretend to have a different IP address or anything like that.

Or Angola, if I’ve understood the rules correctly.

I assumed that I’d been banned this morning, but I think that the forum was just down, or my internet playing up, or something. I thought that you weren’t allowed multiple accounts on here? Several people on this thread seem to be openly talking about having had multiple accounts?

Not my intention, honest!

I meant that they created a loophole for ALL League C and League D teams, not just us - as in a route for teams outside the top 24 teams in Europe to get to the finals without actually having to get past any of the top 24 teams.

I don’t think that we should be wishing injury on other players - that’s not a good look. UEFA have already given us a big enough loophole route to the finals, let’s not go looking for extra loopholes!

I have a few issues (surprise, surprise)..... Firstly, obviously 2026 is a World Cup year, not a European Championship year. Secondly, I think it will take a decade or so for the Nations League format to settle down and for them to come up with the format that works best. It’s already changed, with there now being 16 teams in Leagues A and B, instead of 12. So being in the top two leagues in future won’t quite provide the same guarantees it did this time. It will be interesting to see if they persist with easy routes to the finals for lower leagues, or if that’s done away with. Also, obviously there are now massive differences between World Cup cycles and European Championship cycles, given that the former requires only 13 European qualifiers, whereas the latter requires 24. Finally, League B looks to be exactly our standard, (teams from 17-32 in Europe.) From time to time we may go up or down from there, but we’d be very likely to bounce straight back to League B again. So, I don’t think that the benefits of League A are going to affect us very often. (Again, I find it a bit bemusing that any Scotland fans would be discussing being in League A, at this moment in time!)

How am I being condescending?

I think that we’re at cross-purposes here, because I’m thinking the same thing!! What are you asking me?

?? Well, obviously not. There are only 24 finals places, but there are now 32 teams in Leagues A and B. So the format will have to change for the next European Championship finals. Being in League A or B is obviously not now enough to earn a playoff place, as there are now too many teams.

With regards to the Faroes and San Marino, that’s how a league system works though. There’s a pecking order. Cowdenbeath know that no matter how well they play this season, they won’t qualify for the Champions League. Their carrot is promotion, just as the Faroes and San Marino’s carrot is promotion. I don’t really like the current playoff ‘paths’ with four teams, rather than playoffs with two teams, which I agree could have been achieved using the qualifying groups. (Incidentally, Scotland would have missed out on a playoff under that format, as one of the two worst third-placed teams, for anyone who thinks we may have hade a better chance that way!) However, once UEFA decided to hand out multiple playoff places to the Nations League, that should have been done on the basis of merit. It’s a very risky business once you start handing out places further down the pecking order, as it takes away sporting integrity. (Teams may now find themselves with the option to deliberately lose a match, in order to earn an easier route in future.) I hope and suspect that this may end up being a one-off experiment, and places will have to be earned solely on merit in future. It will be a bit galling this summer, if we see our run without a finals being extended to at least 24 years, and have to watch the League D winners taking an undeserved place at the finals, a place which could potentially have been ours under a fairer system.

Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t explain that very clearly. I meant by your Nations League position, rather than your ranking. Northern Ireland earned their playoff spot by virtue of their Nations League position, which they earned by virtue of their ranking. Was what I meant.

Under the current system of 24 teams, yes. Unfortunately for us, the format has just changed, hasn’t it? So now there are 32 teams altogether in Leagues A and B, with only 24 places to be filled. 🙁 Some may say, ‘Just our luck.’

What I meant by ‘sympathy places’: There are 24 places at the European Championship finals. There are a total of 24 teams in Leagues A and B. If everything played out exactly according to seedings, those 24 teams should be the 24 European Championship finalists. However, UEFA has created two routes, one for League C and one for League D, for teams from those Leagues to qualify, without having to depose one of the top 24 seeds. That’s what I meant by a sympathy spot. It’s a route through to the finals, that has been made easier than it should be for a team of that ranking. Logically, under any usual qualification system, a team ranked outside the top 24, would have to overcome at least one team from within the top 24, to get to the finals ahead of them. I hope that makes sense!

The playoff spots should be filled from the top down. It’s crazy to give playoff spots to teams in Leagues C and D, if there are teams from League A or B who have missed out. That’s like if England gave their Champions League places to the winners of the four divisions (Premier League, Championship, Leagues One and Two) rather than the top four teams in the Premier League. Obviously when handing out qualification places in a league system, you should fill from the top down. You don’t penalise teams for being in a higher league, and start handing out places to lower leagues first, that’s ridiculous.

That’s not what I was referring to, I was meaning the ‘sympathy spots’ handed out to Leagues D and C. Northern Ireland earned their playoff spot by virtue of their ranking. You can’t penalise them for being ranked high enough to end up in a tougher group!

??

A playoff spot is perhaps slightly easier to achieve now, given that there are 12 up for grabs, but it’s now even harder to come through those playoffs, as they require getting past two quality teams instead of one. It’s a mammoth task for a team of our level to come through World Cup qualification, probably less than a 10% shot.

I’ll discuss in private message, so as not to derail the thread further

You can’t blame that on autocorrect, as that wouldn’t start throwing apostrophes in someone’s name for no reason, would it? If autocorrect was putting apostrophes in the middle of a name, it must have seen you put them there several times previously. Again, obviously you have a different opinion to me, but I thought that YOU were the one showing arrogance, by being too lazy/not caring enough to go back and delete the apostrophes! I always read my posts once I’ve made them, and make a quick edit if there are any spelling mistakes/misclicks/grammar that doesn’t make sense etc. because I think it’s important to get things right. If you draw the line somewhere different then fair enough, but I don’t think that there’s an issue in telling someone when they keep making the same mistake over and over and over!

I’d say anyone who is playing regularly in the English Premiership is a quality player. Hmmm, slightly less attacking than Armstrong maybe? And I’d say slightly lower standard maybe, but perhaps that’s more of a judgement on Norwich and Southampton than the players themselves.

Yeah, another quality midfielder who should be in with a shout. Probably a few slightly ahead of him in the pecking order at the moment, but only just.