From 2024, ten South American national teams could also take part in the European Nations League. This would also be a clear signal to FIFA
This week, UEFA signed a paper with the South American football association CONMEBOL to extend and strengthen their cooperation until June 2028. Soon this partnership could also have consequences for the Nations League.
“UEFA is working on a number of projects with CONMEBOL, including a joint Nations League, but nothing has been finalised and no decisions have been taken yet,” UEFA announced on Friday evening.
“The last Nations League in the current format “
However, plans are apparently afoot to allow South American national teams to take part in the Nations League from 2024 onwards. The 2022/23 edition, whose matches were drawn this week, would be “the last Nations League in the current format”, Zbigniew Boniek, a member of UEFA’s Executive Committee, had previously told the Polish sports portal “Meczyki”.
“From 2024, there will be 22 teams in League A, where there are 16 teams – six teams from South America will join, and another four will join League B, as there are only ten teams in CONMEBOL,” Boniek continued. “However, we have not yet decided what the exact formula will be, how it will be played.” So far, all 55 European national teams participate in the Nations League, which enters its third season in 2022.
The increased cooperation between UEFA and CONMEBOL should also be seen as a signal to FIFA, whose president Gianni Infantino continues to campaign for a reduction in the World Cup cycle from four to two years. UEFA and CONMEBOL have clearly spoken out against these plans – and are now tinkering with their own intercontinental competition instead.