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[roverandout]

Another dull qualifying group.  Remember the exciting days when we drew the likes of Germany and Italy.  I know its because of our seeding 

[Mattyblue]

And because there are so many European nations now.

It used to be hard to avoid big nations when there weren’t 12 ex-Soviet teams (largely crap), or 7 ex-Yugoslavia teams (largely crap) or all the minnows that should really be playing some kind of pre qualifying tournament.

[joey_big_nose]

They really need to get rid of the qualifying round and just use the nations league instead. It's where everything is heading, just get it done. Huge mismatches like England vs Andorra don't help anyone.

Incidentally the groups do look a lot smaller than they used to be - just 5 teams? I guess that's a function of the world cup in 2026 being so massive (48 teams!) so more places up for grabs. 

[roverandout]

Should have one giant league like in South America where everyone plays one another.  I realise there will be nearly 100 matches to play 

[speeeeeeedie]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

Another dull qualifying group.  Remember the exciting days when we drew the likes of Germany and Italy.  I know its because of our seeding 

I'm happy with that. Qualification is a must for me. I plan on going to as many games as financially possible in 2026. 

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

They really need to get rid of the qualifying round and just use the nations league instead. It's where everything is heading, just get it done. Huge mismatches like England vs Andorra don't help anyone.

How would it work? I agree that Andorra, San Marino and others should have more to do to get into a "final" qualification group.

[chaddyrovers]

Just go to show how pathetic these qualifying groups are now for major European countries. More boring games. 

[joey_big_nose]

8 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

How would it work? I agree that Andorra, San Marino and others should have more to do to get into a "final" qualification group.

Just say the top division of the nations league qualify for the world cup and top two divisions for euros, refine the numbers as needed through a playoff system - no need for anything else imo.

For andorra etc they still have a route in by climbing up the nations league (although they wont obviously, but genuinely good small team like Iceland 10 years ago will rise up).

You get double value - 1) nations league becomes genuinely important and interesting 2) loads of pointless mis matched games get eliminated 

Edited December 14 by joey_big_nose

[roversfan99]

These extended tournaments ruin the spectacle and the jeopardy. Qualification is guaranteed for any half decent team when so many qualify. Then at the tournament, you have more poor teams and crucially a ridiculous system whereby most 3rd placed teams qualify. Gone are the days when you can even get a hard group to begin with but if you do, then you will almost certainly qualify anyway.

There was to be fair a good potential group at Euro 2020 with Portugal, France and Germany in. They all qualified though so a potentially fascinating group in the past became predictable.

Thats before you consider tournaments either hosted across numerous continents or in winter as part of sportswashing.

[wilsdenrover]

17 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

They really need to get rid of the qualifying round and just use the nations league instead. It's where everything is heading, just get it done. Huge mismatches like England vs Andorra don't help anyone.

Incidentally the groups do look a lot smaller than they used to be - just 5 teams? I guess that's a function of the world cup in 2026 being so massive (48 teams!) so more places up for grabs. 

They’re already using it as part of the qualifying criteria for this World Cup - why not, as you say, go the whole hog and use it as the sole qualification process?

I imagine the answer is less games = less money 

(Whereas the answer should be ‘great idea, it will help solve the fixture congestion issue too’.)

[Mattyblue]

Add the mess of international tournaments to the ‘Swiss Model’ Champions League and that ridiculous World Club Cup and the schedule of the sport looks a complete dogs dinner… and we know why 💰(not quite a brown envelope emoji, but close enough)

[Forever Blue]

21 hours ago, roverandout said:

Another dull qualifying group.  Remember the exciting days when we drew the likes of Germany and Italy.  I know its because of our seeding 

They want all the major nations at the Finals, so the group stages are a means to an end….. which is good for us cos we’d struggle to qualify from a competitive group.