Fight the victories
UEFA revolutionizes women’s football
11/03/2022 4:39 p.m
The DFB team just rushes through the World Cup qualification. The situation is similar for the top nations England and France. But that’s about to change in women’s football. As with men, UEFA introduces a Nations League. The goal is more equal opponents.
A Nations League for women, plus European qualifiers – and the hope of a further boost after the huge EM hype in the summer. More exciting games, more top games and a national league like the men’s are part of a revolution with which the European Football Union (UEFA) wants to break new ground in the women’s national teams from autumn 2023.
“I said this summer that we will continue to invest in women’s football and we are doing so. After the historic UEFA Women’s Euro, it is now time to further develop women’s football in the national teams,” said UEFA boss Aleksander Čeferin. You have created an “open, competitive and continuous system in which every game counts”.
As the UEFA Executive Committee decided, the new system provides for a combination of a newly introduced Nations League and a European qualification for the first time in the run-up to the EM 2025. Not only is there the chance of another title, the European Championship, World Cup and Olympics tickets will also be awarded in this way in the future. He was “convinced that this format will help all European national associations and keep alive the dream of qualifying for a major international tournament,” said Čeferin.
Fight against sporting inequality
The decision can be interpreted primarily as a reaction to the sporting inequality as well as too many one-sided games and high results in the qualification. The DFB women, for example, won nine out of ten games on the way to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and ultimately even had a goal difference of 47:5. It was similar with other top nations like England or France.
“We welcome the reforms in the women’s national team competitions,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. “Thanks to the new format of the Nations League and a European qualification, we will play more competitive international matches. We have also spoken out in favor of this. It is precisely these games that take us further and are extremely important for the development of the players. Due to the lack of information regarding the final Four tournaments and the associated Olympic qualification, we cannot yet finally evaluate it.”
In the newly created Nations League, the teams initially play in a league format with three strength classes each in groups of four or three. Promotion and relegation games follow, as well as a final phase in which the four best teams fight for the title. In addition, the group phase is about creating a good starting position for the so-called European Qualifiers.
These will also be played in the same format on six matchdays. The eight best-placed teams in the final table of the A-League, the top tier, qualify directly for the EM 2025. The remaining starting places will be awarded over two play-off rounds in the first and second leg. The final tables of the European qualification after promotion and relegation serve as a starting point for the subsequent Nations League.
Qualifying for the 2027 World Cup finals follows the same principles. Every four years, the Nations League final phase also serves as a qualification path for the Olympic football tournament, so the European representatives alongside France for the 2024 Olympics in Paris will be determined in the first edition. So far, these Olympic starting places have been allocated at the World Championships.