stringtranslate.com

2018–19 UEFA Nations League B

The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League B was the second division of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.[1]

Format

League B consisted of 12 UEFA members ranked from 13 to 24, split into four groups of three. The winners of each group were promoted to the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A. The third-placed team of each group was initially to be relegated to the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C,[2] but remained in League B following UEFA's reformatting of the next edition's groups.[3]

In addition, League B was allocated one of the four remaining UEFA Euro 2020 places. Four teams from League B which had not already qualified for the European Championship finals competed in the play-offs for each division, which were played in October and November 2020. The play-off berths were first allocated to the group winners, and if any of the group winners had already qualified for the European Championship finals, then to the next best ranked team of the division, etc. If there were fewer than four teams in League B which had not already qualified for the European Championship finals, the play-off berths would be allocated via one of two methods:

The playoffs consisted of two "one-off" semi-finals (best-ranked team hosts the lowest-ranked team and second best-ranked team hosts the third best-ranked team and one "one-off" final between the two semi-final winners (venue drawn in advance between semi-final 1 and 2).[4][5]

Seeding

Teams were allocated to League B according to their UEFA national team coefficients after the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying group stage on 11 October 2017. Teams were split into three pots of four teams, ordered based on their UEFA national team coefficient.[6][7] The seeding pots for the draw were announced on 7 December 2017.[8]

The group draw took place at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 January 2018, 12:00 CET.[9][10][11][12] For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine could not be drawn into the same group (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine).[13]

Groups

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 24 January 2018 following the draw.[14][15]

Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Group 1

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, no teams were eventually relegated.
Městský fotbalový stadion, Uherské Hradiště
Attendance: 7,974[16]
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
Arena Lviv, Lviv
Attendance: 121[16][note 3]
Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece)
Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava
Attendance: 17,251[16]
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv
Attendance: 38,100[16]
Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)
Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava
Attendance: 9,764[16]
Referee: Nikola Dabanović (Montenegro)
Sinobo Stadium, Prague
Attendance: 16,623[16]
Referee: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Spain)

Group 2

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, no teams were eventually relegated.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Sweden 4, Russia 1.
Şenol Güneş Stadium, Trabzon
Attendance: 29,702[18]
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Friends Arena, Solna
Attendance: 21,832[18]
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad
Attendance: 31,698[18]
Referee: Luca Banti (Italy)
Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi
Attendance: 38,288[18]
Referee: Paweł Raczkowski (Poland)
Konya Büyükşehir Stadium, Konya
Attendance: 37,425[18]
Referee: István Kovács (Romania)
Friends Arena, Solna
Attendance: 20,223[18]
Referee: Benoît Bastien (France)

Group 3

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, no teams were eventually relegated.
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 16,942[19]
Referee: Pavel Královec (Czech Republic)
Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica
Attendance: 9,100[19]
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France)
Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
Attendance: 22,300[19]
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria)
Stadion Grbavica, Sarajevo
Attendance: 11,050[19]
Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland)
Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
Attendance: 37,200[19]
Referee: Andrew Dallas (Scotland)
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 17,895[19]
Referee: Jonathan Lardot (Belgium)

Group 4

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, no teams were eventually relegated.
Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 25,657[20]
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
Aarhus Stadium, Aarhus
Attendance: 17,506[20]
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany)
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 41,220[20]
Referee: Xavier Estrada Fernández (Spain)
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 38,321[20]
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 32,354[20]
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia)
Aarhus Stadium, Aarhus
Attendance: 11,130[20]
Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)

Goalscorers

There were 48 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Overall ranking

The 12 League B teams were ranked 13th to 24th overall in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[2][21]

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Ranking criteria

Prize money

The prize money to be distributed was announced in March 2018.[22] Each team in League B received a solidarity fee of €1 million. In addition, the four group winners received double this amount with a €1M bonus fee. This meant that the maximum amount of solidarity and bonus fees for a team from League B was €2M.

Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs

The four best teams in League B according to the overall ranking that did not qualify for UEFA Euro 2020 through the qualifying group stage competed in the play-offs, with the winners qualifying for the final tournament. If there had been fewer than four teams in League B that had not qualified, the remaining slots would have been allocated to teams from another league, according to the overall ranking.

Key

  1. GW Nations League group winner
  2. H UEFA Euro 2020 host at the time of the draw
  3.   Team advanced to play-offs
  4.   Team qualified directly to final tournament

Notes

  1. ^ CEST (UTC+2) for matchdays 1–4 (September and October 2018), CET (UTC+1) for matchdays 5–6 (November 2018).
  2. ^ The Czech Republic v Ukraine match, originally scheduled for 20:45 CEST, was delayed to 21:00 CEST due to floodlight failure.
  3. ^ The Ukraine v Slovakia match was played behind closed doors due to a UEFA punishment against Ukraine for the display of a banner with racist symbols in their UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying home match against Spain.[17]

References

  1. ^ "UEFA Nations League receives associations' green light". UEFA. 27 March 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Regulations of the UEFA Nations League 2018/19" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Format change for 2020/21 UEFA Nations League". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  4. ^ "UEFA Nations League format and schedule approved". UEFA.com. 4 December 2014.
  5. ^ "UEFA Nations League format and schedule confirmed". UEFA. 4 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Confirmed: How the UEFA Nations League will line up". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  7. ^ "National Team Coefficients Overview" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  8. ^ "UEFA Nations League draw seedings confirmed". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  9. ^ "UEFA Nations League format confirmed". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  10. ^ "All you need to know: UEFA Nations League draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  11. ^ "League Phase Draw Press Kit" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  12. ^ "UEFA Nations League 2018/19 League Phase draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  13. ^ "UEFA Nations League 2018/19 – League Phase Draw Procedure" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  14. ^ "UEFA Nations League calendar: all the fixtures". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  15. ^ "UEFA Nations League 2018/19: Fixtures List – League Phase" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Summary UEFA Nations League B – Group 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Slováci budú hrať v Lige národov na Ukrajine bez divákov, pre trest z roku 2015" [Slovaks will play in Nations League in Ukraine without spectators due to 2015 punishment]. SME (in Slovak). Petit Press. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "Summary UEFA Nations League B – Group 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  19. ^ a b c d e f "Summary UEFA Nations League B – Group 3". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "Summary UEFA Nations League B – Group 4". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  21. ^ "2018/19 UEFA Nations League rankings" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  22. ^ "UEFA Nations League solidarity and bonus fees". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

External links