UEFA NL: Slovenia Draw Cyprus, Bulgaria And Norway

The Slovenian national football team will slug it out against Cyprus, Bulgaria and Norway in the forthcoming group stage of the UEFA Nations League tournament. Slovenia got to know of their opponents following the draw in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday.

The international competition is set to replace international friendly matches across Europe, with its widespread support and adoption. The first campaign is set to begin in September later this year. The new tournament is expected to offer an alternative path to the Euro 2020 finals via playoffs.

Slovenia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Norway will go head to head in the round-robin group of games like the other groups in each football league draw. The groups have three to four teams with each of the four Leagues having similarly ranked teams. Each League has four groups in all.

The tournament would be played in the “empty” seasons when there is no European Championship or World Cup. The classifications are based on the FIFA ranking of the 55 European sides. The top 12, the nest top 12, etc are split into the four various leagues.

Teams like Spain, England, Portugal, Belgium, France and Germany will make League A, then teams like Wales, Rep of Ireland, Sweden, Czech Rep, Ukraine, Slovakia et al will make League B. Greece, Scotland, Slovenia, Serbia, Cyprus and co will make League C. Georgia, Malta, Belarus, Latvia, Armenia and co will make the League D.

Top teams that make it past the group stage will feature in the knockout finals in June next year before the Nations League decider comes up. The performances of teams in the Nations League and the fixtures will determine seedings for Europe 2020. However the top two teams in the groups will get a spot in the expanded finals.