Despite the athletic failure in the Nations League in the fall of 2018, the German national football team is spared a descent into the European second division. The reason for this is a reform of the League of Nations, which has decided the Executive Committee of the European Football Association (Uefa) at a meeting in the Slovenian Ljubjiana.
Already on Monday it had been speculated. Now it is clear. The A-League will be the highest of the four divisions for the upcoming round in the fall of 2020 increased from twelve to 16 teams. Germany, like Poland, Croatia and Iceland, has not relegated to the B-League despite sporting failure.
Then there are the four newcomers from the B-League: Ukraine, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Denmark. In addition to Portugal, which had won the first edition in 2019, the final tournament participants Netherlands, Switzerland and England as well as the second runners-up: France, Belgium, Italy and Spain.
No friendlies until 2022
As a consequence of the reform, Germany will not have any friendlies until the World Cup year 2022. All six international match slots in September, October and November 2020 are reserved for the new league for the Nations League. In March 2021 qualifying for the Qatar World Cup starts with either ten games or eight games and participation in the Nations League final tournament.
Due to poor performance in 2018, the League draw for the League of Nations in Amsterdam in Loew in March is expected to see heavy counterparts. At the premiere edition, Germany - although topped at that time - also had a hard time in the eventual champions France and the Netherlands.
In the end there were five months after the WM-K.-o. the next sporting setback - winless with the last group place and the actually sealed descent.