San Marino

This is genuinely a great story, fair play to them.

So they get a promotion now and possibly World cup play off?
 
Is this their first ever away win?

This is why we need a world cup of the bottom 32 teams. It will be fantastic
 
They celebrated like they had won the World Cup and fans were singing: 'Championes, championes...'
Brilliant :)
 
Congratulations to them! Although having them in a WC playoff based on Nations League fourth division results would be a bit farcical, to be frank.
 
They give a good argument for the positives of the Nations League.
Absolutely. In international ice hockey, there's an A league and a B league for countries, and a promotion/relegation system. Stuff like that just makes so much sense: it's more fun for the smaller countries (they don't just lose) and it saves a lot of pointless qualifiers between entirely unmatched teams.

I know some of the romance in international football is supposed to reside in everyone playing everyone, but in practice, it's not really a good experience.

And congrats to San Marino. :)
 
They only went and fecking did it, absolute mad lads.
 
Brilliant story. They've been slowly getting more competitive and scoring more often than not in the last year or so. Must be great for the older fans especially who've watched them get hammered so many times over the years.
 
How does promotion from League D and relegation from League C work? I saw the tables for League D and it clearly states that San Marino and probably Moldova will be promoted, with one more from a playoff, but for League C it doesn't mention who will be relegated into League D.
 
How does promotion from League D and relegation from League C work? I saw the tables for League D and it clearly states that San Marino and probably Moldova will be promoted, with one more from a playoff, but for League C it doesn't mention who will be relegated into League D.
Out of the 4 teams who place 4th, the two with the worst record are relegated automatically, and the other two play playoffs against the 2nd place teams from League D.

Also from what I can gather, San Marino won't get a world cup playoff as it's only the best ranked winner in each league level that qualifies.
 
Also from what I can gather, San Marino won't get a world cup playoff as it's only the best ranked winner in each league level that qualifies.
No. It's the four best-ranked group winners.

"The qualifying group stage will feature twelve groups of four or five teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the World Cup, while the second-placed teams will advance to the play-offs, along with the four best-ranked group winners from the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group."

They are the 14th best-ranked group winners. If 10 of the group winners ahead of them finish top 2 in the regular qualifiers then San Marino get a play off. You have to assume most/all group winners from League A and B will finish top 2. But it's highly unlikely that enough group winners from League C plus the other winner from League D will finish top 2. Most likely there will be no team from D in the play offs.
 
No. It's the four best-ranked group winners.

"The qualifying group stage will feature twelve groups of four or five teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the World Cup, while the second-placed teams will advance to the play-offs, along with the four best-ranked group winners from the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group."

They are the 14th best-ranked group winners. If 10 of the group winners ahead of them finish top 2 in the regular qualifiers then San Marino get a play off. You have to assume most/all group winners from League A and B will finish top 2. But it's highly unlikely that enough group winners from League C plus the other winner from League D will finish top 2. Most likely there will be no team from D in the play offs.
What a ridiculously complicated system. All designed to force the top teams to play their best players in this Mickey Mouse competition, so Uefa can make more money from their product. Sooner or later though it’s going to bite them on the arse and we’ll have some garbage team like San Marino representing Europe at a World Cup.
 
San Marino at the world cup would be great actually.
 
Liechtenstein are now unique in world football as the only country that can claim 'Oh God, please don't let us draw San Marino again'.
 
What a ridiculously complicated system. All designed to force the top teams to play their best players in this Mickey Mouse competition, so Uefa can make more money from their product. Sooner or later though it’s going to bite them on the arse and we’ll have some garbage team like San Marino representing Europe at a World Cup.
It's a joke of a system, yes, but I doubt that'll happen - even if they make the playoff, they'll be put to the sword by whichever average team they come up against.
 
If San Marino qualify for the World Cup that would be amazing? They’ll have earned it. Being snobby and calling them garbage is sad. The WC is a horrible bloated mess now anyway.
 
What a ridiculously complicated system. All designed to force the top teams to play their best players in this Mickey Mouse competition, so Uefa can make more money from their product. Sooner or later though it’s going to bite them on the arse and we’ll have some garbage team like San Marino representing Europe at a World Cup.

I don't think the top teams are too bothered by it. The chances of them failing to be in the top 2 in WC qualifying are slim. Might have been designed to try and make them care about Nations League but I'm not sure it works out that way.

For those who might consider themselves with a chance of 2nd in a typical WC qualifying group, but are not too confident that they'd acheive that or for those who would normally expect to finish 3rd or worse in qualifying then Nations League becomes serious for them.

Mind you, trying to understand it all just fries my brain.

I think the Euros had a slightly different method but again Nations League was a pathway into it. More spots up for grabs obviously. Teams at certain Nations Leahue levels were guaranteed entry into that one. It's why we had Georgia, Greece, Khazakstan (Nations League C winners) in a playoff with Luxembourg (Group C runners up) with 1 guaranteed a place. Group D winners Estonia also got a playoff spot, but against stronger teams.

Think I'm right in saying that if a country with no history of ever making a major tournament, or went rarely and wanted to get in one without caring which they could try and win Group C Nations League in a Euro cycle then get relegated again in a World Cup cycle almost on purpose to give themselves the best chance. That would be better than surviving in Nations League B. Depends on exactly how they saw themselves as they'd get a harder qualifying group by doing that, but it is an extra bite of the cherry for them. Might suit certain teams ranked outside the top 20 in Europe, more like 25th-40th. Then again, UEFA could modify the whole qualifying process again by the time the next Euros comes along.
 
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lovely stuff, this is what makes football such a great sport. Note to self: Must ask Santa for a San Marino away top.