WALES will face Republic of Ireland and Denmark in the new UEFA Nations League which will be played between September and November 2018.
The new Nations League has been designed to create more meaningful matches and will see less friendly matches taking place.
For the draw, the 55 European Nations were placed into four groups (A-D) based on their current ranking.
Each team in each group was drawn into a group of three or four teams to determine who will be playing who in the inaugural Nations League.
The new system will also involve promotion and relegation between leagues for those who finish top and bottom of the groups.
The four winners of the groups in Group A will then go on to play a final tournament in June 2019 to determine the Nations League winner.
There is also a chance for teams to qualify for the European Championships in 2020 via their Nations League performance.
Qualification for the Championships will take place as it has done before but with the top two teams in each group qualifying.
With teams already qualifying through the usual group stages, their places will be taken by the next best performing side from the Nations League.
That will create one final tournament with sixteen more teams given a second chance to qualify for the European Championships.
The teams will be placed into another group of four and will be drawn to play two single-leg semi-finals and one single leg final to determine who will reach the finals.
Wednesday’s draw sees Wales paired once again with the Republic of Ireland who beat them in qualification for the 2018 World Cup, only to be knocked out in the play-offs.
Add Comment