As national team qualifiers have come under more and more scrutiny in recent years – with the Premier League and other top-tier competitions offering more compelling viewing on the international break – it is easy to see why many fans have little interest in watching a nation’s underperforming national side. It is also easy to see why those in power have taken note of the criticism and are looking for ways to inject more interest into what is now a rather stale affair.
The latest moves are to bring the Nations League into play and restructure the entire qualification process to make it more competitive. Whether that takes the form of a revamped version of the Champions League format, or something altogether different, UEFA has made it clear that it is keen to change things up and inject some freshness into the process.
Currently, all the nations in each qualifying group play each other home and away over two legs – one at home and one at the opponent’s ground – with only the top six sides securing automatic places at the finals. The seventh-placed team then goes into the inter-confederation playoffs if they are not already qualified through other means.
The 2026 tournament will see the number of teams playing at the finals increase from 32 to 48, and as a result the race for automatic berths is already tighter than usual. For example, North Macedonia are now top of their group ahead of Belgium thanks to a jolly fairytale campaign and could, in theory, supplant Serbia if they win all of their remaining matches, including a trip to the red hot white heat of Belgrade.