UEFA is reportedly getting ready to evaluation its total system of worldwide qualifiers amid mounting concern that followers — and broadcasters — are shedding curiosity within the present format. With declining tv audiences and dwindling enthusiasm for conventional qualifying campaigns, Europe’s footballing physique is now exploring radical options to re-energize the trail to each the World Cup and the European Championship.
A particular working group inside UEFA’s Nationwide Groups Committee has been created to review attainable reforms, with two concepts on the forefront: increasing the usage of the Nations League as a qualification mechanism, and introducing a “Swiss mannequin” just like that being rolled out in UEFA’s revamped membership competitions.
In keeping with The Instances, UEFA’s normal secretaries from all 55 European federations had been briefed on the potential shake-up throughout a current assembly in Málaga. The discussions reportedly targeted on balancing competitiveness, monetary equity, and viewers attraction — three areas the place the present system has began to fall quick.
“Broadcast revenues and fan engagement round worldwide qualifiers have been happening, however they’ve been going up within the Nations League,” a UEFA supply defined. “It’s been checked out earlier than, but it surely’s very troublesome to search out the proper system — one which retains jeopardy for the massive nations whereas nonetheless giving smaller groups alternatives.”
The context for this evaluation is evident. Underneath the present mannequin, high nations usually face lengthy qualifying campaigns stuffed with predictable, one-sided fixtures. For instance, England’s current World Cup qualifying group noticed them play Serbia, Albania, Latvia, and Andorra residence and away — fixtures that, whereas easy on paper, generated restricted pleasure and modest viewing figures. For broadcasters and sponsors, the dearth of high-stakes drama till the late phases has made these qualifiers a more durable promote.
In distinction, the UEFA Nations League — launched in 2018 — has succeeded in revitalizing the worldwide calendar by creating tiered divisions the place promotion and relegation add aggressive that means. The match has delivered extra even contests and occasional surprises, which in flip have boosted tv audiences and fan engagement.
That success has not gone unnoticed, particularly as UEFA has already applied the Nations League because the qualification route for girls’s tournaments, together with the Girls’s Euros, World Cup, and Olympics, since 2023. The brand new working group will now assess whether or not an analogous mannequin might be prolonged to the lads’s sport, successfully remodeling qualifying right into a steady league-based cycle fairly than a collection of static teams.
Nonetheless, utilizing the Nations League as a direct qualifier comes with trade-offs. Smaller nations usually depend on internet hosting glamour fixtures in opposition to heavyweights like France, Germany, or England for essential monetary windfalls. A league-based construction, during which groups primarily face others of comparable rating, dangers reducing off these income streams and decreasing the romantic attraction of David-versus-Goliath matchups.
To deal with that, UEFA can be contemplating a extra radical structural shift: the “Swiss mannequin.” Borrowed from chess tournaments and tailored for membership competitions, this technique would place all 55 European nations in a single rating pool. As a substitute of fastened teams, every group would play six or eight matches in opposition to opponents decided by seeding, making certain a mixture of stronger and weaker fixtures. Crucially, every matchup can be performed solely as soon as, fairly than residence and away, reducing down on fixture congestion.
Outcomes from all these matches would feed into one complete league desk. Qualification would then be decided by total standings — as an illustration, if 16 European World Cup spots had been up for grabs, the highest 12 groups would possibly qualify routinely, with the subsequent eight competing in play-offs for the remaining 4 berths. This format would create a broader sense of competitors and unpredictability, whereas nonetheless permitting marquee matchups to emerge naturally by way of seeding.
But enthusiasm for the Swiss mannequin is way from common. One UEFA insider cautioned that what works for membership soccer won’t translate easily to the worldwide stage. “The Swiss format shouldn’t be a magical system,” the supply mentioned, noting that nationwide groups function beneath distinctive constraints — fewer matches, restricted preparation time, and better disparities in high quality. The system may additionally complicate logistics for followers and federations, significantly with fixtures unfold throughout a number of international locations.
Nonetheless, the urge for food for reform seems actual. UEFA’s management is beneath stress to maintain worldwide soccer related in a crowded sporting panorama. The rise of expanded membership competitions, coupled with more and more packed home calendars, has decreased the time and a spotlight followers commit to worldwide qualifiers. With out change, there’s a threat that even the World Cup and Euros — as soon as the top of nationwide pleasure — may lose their narrative build-up.
The approaching months will see UEFA’s working group current its findings and suggestions, possible sparking intense debate amongst federations. Some smaller associations will push to protect monetary safeguards and truthful entry, whereas bigger nations and broadcasters will argue for codecs that assure extra compelling and commercially viable fixtures.
Whether or not by way of the Nations League, a Swiss-style construction, or a hybrid system combining each, UEFA’s aim is evident: to inject jeopardy, drama, and viewers attraction again into the worldwide stage. The problem can be to take action with out alienating the smaller nations that type the inspiration of European soccer’s id.
For now, one factor appears sure — the times of predictable, low-stakes qualifying teams might be numbered. Of their place, UEFA is envisioning a future the place each match counts, and the place the highway to the World Cup or Euros as soon as once more captures the creativeness of followers throughout the continent.