With the inaugural Nations League program ending Tuesday, the 2020 European Championship is up next for the continent's national teams.
All 24 places at Euro 2020 are up for grabs when qualifying starts in March, although the Nations League helped shape the draw that will be held on Dec. 2 in Dublin.
Germany, for instance, won't be among the top-seeded teams because of its poor results since September.
For 16 teams, there already is a backup plan to reach Euro 2020. Those Nations League group winners are sure of a place in a playoff round held in March 2020 regardless of their finish in the traditional qualifying groups.
Another quirk of Euro 2020 is there are 12 host countries — from Ireland in the west to Azerbaijan in the east — and none gets an automatic entry.
Here is the Euro 2020 outlook:
Euro 2020 Qualifying Draw
All 55 teams in the Dec. 2 draw are seeded according to Nations League results.
They will be drawn into five groups of five teams and five six-team groups, with games played from March to November next year.
The Nations League top-tier group winners — Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England — must be in the smaller, five-team groups. They will play the Final Four tournament hosted by Portugal in June when others are playing Euro 2020 qualifiers.
The top two finishers in each group qualify automatically for Euro 2020.
- Pot 1: Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Poland.
- Pot 2: Germany, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic.
- Pot 3: Slovakia, Turkey, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland, Bulgaria, Israel.
- Pot 4: Hungary, Romania, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Georgia.
- Pot 5: Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Luxembourg, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Gibraltar, Faeroe Islands.
- Pot 6: Latvia, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, San Marino.
Euro 2020 Playoffs
The last four places at the tournament will be decided through a 16-team playoff, the format of which is completely new.
Four teams from each of four Nations League tiers will play in a mini-tournament featuring semifinals and a final next March 26-31. The four winners advance to complete the 24-team Euro 2020 lineup.
If one of the Nations League group winners have already secured a spot, the next-best team in that tier will make the playoffs.
It is a golden opportunity for fourth-tier League D teams which are unlikely to qualify automatically.
So, one of Georgia, Macedonia, Kosovo or Belarus will make its tournament debut at Euro 2020. For Kosovo, it's a first entry in qualifying after gaining membership of UEFA and FIFA only in 2016.
Other potential playoff lineups:
League C: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland.
League B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden.
League A: Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England.
Euro 2020 Playoffs: 12 Host Countries
Euro 2020 will be hosted in 12 cities in 12 different countries, kicking off in Rome on June 12.
It was supposed to be 13 cities — each hosting three group-stage games plus a knockout game from the round of 16 or a quarterfinal — but Brussels dropped out when a new stadium project failed.
The semifinals and final were awarded to Wembley Stadium in London, which also stepped in to get the four Brussels games.
Host nation teams who qualify will have at least two home games in the group stage.
The host city pairings are:
- Group A: Rome, Italy; Baku, Azerbaijan.
- Group B: St. Petersburg, Russia; Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Group C: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Bucharest, Romania.
- Group D: London, England; Glasgow, Scotland.
- Group E: Bilbao, Spain; Dublin, Ireland.
- Group F: Munich, Germany; Budapest, Hungary.
Round of 16 games (June 27-30) will be in: London, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Budapest, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Glasgow, Dublin.
Quarterfinals (July 3-4) will be in St. Petersburg, Munich, Baku, Rome.
The semifinals will be July 7-8 in London, and the final on July 12.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)