Belarusian players can qualify for Euro 2020

“There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped” - this proverb can be safely made the new slogan of the Belarus national football team. The failure in the qualifying round for the World Cup seriously increased the chances of our team to qualify for Euro 2020 thanks to additional quotas in the new UEFA competition - the Nations League. For the competition and how it can help the Belarusian team to compete in the top tournament for the first time.

Four years ago, UEFA began to think about how to capitalize on friendly matches, which are not very attractive financially, and at the same time have no tournament value. In addition, it became more and more difficult for teams with low ratings to find opponents for sparring. It was decided to create a new tournament - the League of Nations, and postpone the start of qualification for the European Championship for six months.

The format of the competition is as follows: 55 teams are divided into four divisions depending on their rating - A, B, C and D. In leagues A and B, 12 teams play, in C - 15, in D - 16. In each of the divisions, the teams are divided into four groups. The winners of groups B, C and D will advance one division in the next edition. The top four teams from A compete for the Nations League title in a series of play-offs - the semi-final and the final. The bottom four teams from A, B and C are relegated to the lower division.

Everything seems to be simple. A really good tournament to replace boring friendly matches, but there is one nuance that has made the Nations League the most controversial UEFA idea in recent years. The winner of each division receives a ticket to the European Championship. Including from League D, which brought together 16 of the worst teams on the continent. It turns out that a team that clearly does not correspond to the level of the tournament will be selected for Euro 2020.

The rating of the teams was determined during the qualifying tournament for the World Cup. Initially, our team was in the top 40 best teams in Europe, but the failure in the selection, where the Belarusians performed worse than Luxembourg, turned into a fall to 42nd place for the Belarusians. This meant qualification for the weakest division - D. There is little honor in this, but the prospects are incredible. Now the Belarusian national team has the most real chances in its history to break into the top tournament. To do this, it is enough to be the best among the worst.

Who else is in Division D?

Among the 16 teams of the last division, there are mainly football dwarfs, but there are teams with which it will not be so easy. And it's not just about the ill-fated Luxembourg. Seven countries from the former USSR ended up in the lower league at once. In addition to us, these are Latvia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia, the leader of which is Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The mystery is the Kosovo national team, which continues to form a combat-ready squad. In recent years, Macedonia has added a lot, for which there are several forwards with experience playing in the Italian Serie A. Football players from the Faroe Islands no longer seem to be whipping boys.

We hope that the Belarusian national team will have no problems with Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra and San Marino.

When will the tournament start

Group stage matches will be held from September to November 2018. In each quartet, the teams will play each other twice - at home and away. And in March 2020, the winners of the groups will compete for a ticket to the Euro. First, they are waiting for the semi-final, and then the decisive final match.

Such a large gap is due to the fact that in 2019 the traditional qualifying tournament for the European Championship will be held. However, the League of Nations is now seen as the key for our team. And for this chance you need to cling right now. First, don't forget that the four group winners from division D will play in division C next time, and this is a completely different level - Serbia, Romania, Greece, Hungary and a dozen more teams of the same class. It is almost impossible for Belarus to become the best there now. It will be a shame to win promotion to a higher division, but lose the playoffs for the only ticket to the Euro. Secondly, the very idea of ​​the League of Nations is so ambiguous that UEFA may well abandon it in a few years.

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