The International Football Federations Thread

[MDK]

For me the most fun England group:

England

Ireland

Poland

Wales

N. Ireland

Gibraltar

[brenchill]

Bosnia?

Noted European super power

[Lineker]

Sir Alex Ferguson will head an elite coaches forum for Uefa after being appointed coaching ambassador for European football's governing body.

Uefa president Michel Platini said the former Manchester United manager will lead the group, which meets annually, as well as taking a role on a technical coaching panel.

Ferguson, 72, who left as United boss in May after winning his 13th league title with the club, said: "It is an honour and a privilege to accept this role as ambassador for Uefa."

Following a meeting of Uefa's executive committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, Platini told a news conference: "Sir Alex will be chairman of the forum of elite coaches that meet every year.

"He will also be a member of the technical study group of the Champions League and the European Championship."

[Lineker]

President Sepp Blatter says he will reverse his decision to stand down and instead run for another term from 2015 if Fifa members ask him to.

[METALMAN]

And they will ask him to.

[stokeriño]

Dubious payments made by a Qatari company to FIFA officials shortly after they won the World Cup vote? Surely not.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10704290/Qatar-World-Cup-2022-investigation-former-Fifa-vice-president-Jack-Warner-and-family-paid-millions.html

[MDK]

Shocking news, that

[DFF]

Nations League: New European tournament to be confirmed

A "League of Nations" that would be a third major tournament for European countries after the World Cup and European Championship is expected to be given the go-ahead by Uefa on Thursday.

Games would be played in odd-numbered years on dates reserved for friendlies, starting after the 2018 World Cup.

No exact details have been confirmed, but there would be up to four divisions with promotion and relegation, plus a 'final four' competition in the summer.

England would likely be in a top tier.

The 54 member associations of European football's governing body will vote on the proposal at its annual congress in Kazakhstan.

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino has confirmed an agreement to set up the new tournament should be reached on Thursday.

He said: "What has triggered what is being called the Nations League is the international calendar and the dates for friendly matches.

"We have been looking at optimising the structure of the calendar without bringing in any more dates.

"There are teams everyone wants to play against and other teams who struggle to get the opponents they'd ideally like. For all national associations, the fact is that national team matches are key for their development."

On rankings, England would be in the top division alongside the likes of Spain, Germany and Italy. Each division would then be divided into groups with the winners qualifying for a semi-final and final, played at neutral venues.

Winners of the lower divisions could be granted entry to the European Championships.

Northern Ireland and Wales - ranked 47 and 48 respectively by Uefa - could find themselves playing each other in the bottom division.

Scotland's ranking of 24 could see them meeting the likes of Sweden, Croatia and Poland in the league.

While matches will be played on dates reserved for friendlies, there will still be flexibility for smaller countries to arrange high-profile fixtures with bigger European teams and for nations to play friendlies against national sides from outside Europe.

The Football Association is in favour of the plan, with chairman Greg Dyke saying earlier this month: "The hard thing is the detail but I think a Nations League where we played the top nations would be very attractive."

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26747394

[Colly]

It sounds convoluted and silly, but I'll reserve judgement until I see how it effects tournament qualification.

[DFF]

It sounds convoluted and silly, but I'll reserve judgement until I see how it effects tournament qualification.

I suppose it is better than playing entirely meaningless friendlies. Plus, as you'll be playing teams more closely ranked to you, all that games should be somewhat competitive.

[stokeriño]

So long as they're not adding extra matches to the calendar, they can do what they like I guess.

[Lineker]

Would we REALLY be in a top tier, though?

[FestiveJack]

Yes. We frequently qualify outright for tournaments, missing what, one in the last 30 years? Have drawn with or beatan most of the top teams in the last two years or so and outside of Spain, Brazil and Germany have as much a chance as anyone else in games.

[TCO]

Yes. We frequently qualify outright for tournaments, missing what, one in the last 30 years? Have drawn with or beatan most of the top teams in the last two years or so and outside of Spain, Brazil and Germany have as much a chance as anyone else in games.

Missed out on USA 94 and Euro 2008 off the top of my head and I don't care for England at all!

[EddieG]

Besides, it said a top tier, not the top tier.

[stokeriño]

TBF even by England's own shoddy standards they'd have to do really badly not to be top tier. It's only the UEFA countries after all, and apparently split into "up to" four divisions, so you would only need to be in the top 13 or so.

According to current FIFA national team rankings (nonsensical though they are), that would include Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Greece, Croatia, France, Ukraine and Russia. Immediately below that you get the likes of Bosnia, Sweden and Denmark. In those circumstances I think we would scrape top tier regardless.

Of course we'd get 'relegated' soon thereafter, but still.

[TCO]

I'm not sure the FAI would be too thrilled with this given that there's a costly stadium that's rarely filled that needs to be paid for. Playing the same average sides over and over again would kill any lucrative friendly market.

Not sure any of the smaller sides would be thrilled either.

[FestiveJack]

I'm not even sure we'd get relegated. Since we got mauled 4-1 by the Germans in South Africa in 2010, we've lost just just 6 times out of 39 games, which is actually pretty similar to or better than other teams we'd probably be playing.

In that time we've beaten Switzerland, all the Scandinavian sides (minus Iceland and Finland) - who are just outside the top 13 European sides says FIFA - Ukraine, Italy and Belgium as well as beating Brazil. Of course we've also drawn with Montenegro, Ireland and Poland in that time who are very much outside of that group, so who knows.

[DFF]

I can't be the only one that'd be morbidly interested on how the inevitable Ukraine/Russian game would be staged, can I?

[Lineker]

Scotland are up to 22nd in the FIFA rankings!