Germany with France, England draw Spain in new Nations League

World champions Germany will face France and the Netherlands while England were yesterday drawn with Spain and Croatia in the new UEFA Nations League designed to replace friendlies. Italy will seek to restore pride after their failure to reach this year’s World Cup when they take on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Poland, while Wales will play Denmark and the Republic of Ireland.UEFA have devised the format to counter criticism of meaningless international friendlies. The 12 highest-ranked teams have been placed in League A and drawn in four groups of three. Below them are three other ‘Leagues’. The last League A group contains Belgium, Switzerland and Iceland. “I am more than happy,” Joachim Loew, the Germany coach said, with a touch of sarcasm after being paired with the French and Dutch.  “Finally, we have a little luck in the draw. It’s super interesting. These are interesting games for our fans,” Loew added, banging the drum for the new competition.  “Fewer friendlies and more competitive matches, I like that. Interest in friendlies has dropped a great deal in recent years. The fans want something at stake.”England manager Gareth Southgate concurred. “The whole concept of this tournament is that you play high-quality matches and competitive matches, so that criteria is fulfilled with the group that we’re in,” he said. “It’s good to test ourselves in these games.”Fernando Santos, coach of European champions Portugal, believes the new tournament will benefit football across all levels. “One of the positives with this competition is more games between teams of a similar standard,” he said.The competition will initially be contested across 16 groups of three or four teams, with 12 teams each in Leagues A and B, 15 in C and 16 in D.The matches will be played in September, October and November of this year. The League A group winners will contest a ‘final four’ on June 5-9, 2019 to determine the tournament winner. The bottom teams in each group in the top three leagues will be relegated, the top teams in each group in the bottom three leagues will be promoted. But there is also the carrot of four places in Euro 2020, one for each league. The best four teams in each league who have failed to gain one of the 20 spots on offer in the traditional European qualifiers, will play off in late March 2020.UEFA Nations League drawLeague AGroup 1: Germany, France, Netherlands Group 2: Belgium, Switzerland, Iceland Group 3: Portugal, Italy, Poland Group 4: Spain, England, CroatiaLeague BGroup 1: Slovakia, Ukraine, Czech Republic Group 2: Russia, Sweden, Turkey Group 3: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland Group 4: Wales, Republic of Ireland, DenmarkLeague CGroup 1: Scotland, Albania, Israel Group 2: Hungary, Greece, Finland, Estonia Group 3: Slovenia, Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus Group 4: Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, LithuaniaLeague DGroup 1: Georgia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Andorra Group 2: Belarus, Luxembourg, Moldova, San Marino Group 3: Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Malta, Kosovo Group 4: Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein, GibraltarFixturesMatchday 1: September 6-8, 2018 Matchday 2: September 9-11Matchday 3: October 11-13 Matchday 4: October 14-16 Matchday 5: November 15-17 Matchday 6: November 18-20The four winners of the League A groups take part in a playoff on June 5-9, 2019Playoffs for teams that did not qualify directly for Euro 2020 will take place on March 26-31, 2020