Football's game to catch up on matches lost during the coronavirus pandemic sees the semi-finals of the Nations League take place on Thursday (today) with teams seeking a place at next year's Euro 2020, with several stadiums the presence of some fans will be allowed, writes AP.
The playoffs for Euro 2020 begin on Thursday (today), more than six months later than planned, with 16 teams competing for the last four spots in the 24-team European Championship. "Euro 2020" is scheduled to start in June 2021, with a one-year delay, also due to the pandemic. Even if all the playoff teams - who also have to play two games of the new edition of the Nations League starting this weekend - are below the elite level, the potential stories are impressive. Kosovo, the newest addition to world football in 2016, is aiming for its first major tournament appearance. The Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland, also aims to appear for the first time in "Euro 2020". Norway's 20-year-old star was not yet born when his nation last appeared on the international stage, at the 2000 European Championships.
"It would be something extraordinary to appear in the European Championship. We take into account the importance of the playoff matches and we will do everything possible to secure the ticket", insisted Haaland.
The price of European qualification for the four play-off representatives of the first edition of the Nations League - Hungary, Ireland, Romania and Scotland - is to play their matches at home in "Euro 2020" next June. These countries are among the 12 host countries of this tournament which will have such a competition format for the first time. This, too, will require the pandemic to be under control in order for UEFA to stick to its plan for host countries across the continent.
Indeed, the playoffs will end next month. The winners of the eight playoff semifinals will qualify for the four finals, which will be held in November. The strongest duel on Thursday will be in the playoffs of League C of the League of Nations, where Norway will host Serbia, representatives of which are made up of players who are part of several teams of the Champions League for this edition.
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The match with North Macedonia is expected to be played in October and without spectators in the stadium
Dortmund's Haaland and Real Madrid's Martin Odegaard will lead Norway against Ajax's Dusan Tadic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who are among Serbia's mainstays. Just 200 tickets have been distributed by the Norwegian Football Association for the match to be played at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, with the winner securing a home final against Scotland or Israel on November 12. Scotland in this duel will be without players like Stuart Armstrong, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie who have tested positive for COVID-19. UEFA has allowed up to 30 percent capacity in stadiums for matches played under its umbrella, although only within limits approved by local health authorities and public authorities. However, no fan will be present in the match between North Macedonia and Kosovo, which is played within the League D of the League of Nations. The winner of this match next month will travel to face the winner of the other semi-final between Georgia and Belarus in the final. The elite playoff level includes only one team, Iceland, currently playing in the top tier of the Nations League that was inaugurated two years ago. Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary rose in a complicated process for the teams that did not qualify directly for "Euro 2020" to complete the playoff duels.
The winner of Bulgaria against Hungary, where in the match to be played in Sofia in the presence of four thousand spectators, will host the winner of the other semi-final between Iceland and Romania. In the second tier group, Bosnia and Herzegovina host Northern Ireland for the right to host either Slovakia or Ireland in the final next month. Several teams have seen at least one team member leave the huddle after testing positive for COVID-19. UEFA wants further mandatory pre-match tests. If a play-off match in October or November cannot go ahead, UEFA's emergency competition rules allow it to be rescheduled until June, just days before Euro 2020 kicks off in Rome on June 11. The play-off teams still have two Nations League games to play until next Wednesday in the new UEFA schedule. The new schedule has no matches on Friday as the teams play on Saturday, Tuesday or Sunday or Wednesday the duels of this cycle. This month's Nations League fixtures include France v Portugal, a rematch of the Euro 2016 final between England and Belgium on Sunday. Then, next Tuesday, France travel to Croatia for the second leg of the Russia 2018 World Cup final and the duel between Italy and Hungary.
Turn on the
Bulgaria – Hungary (20:45)
Iceland - Romania (20:45)
League B
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Bosnia H. - Ireland V. (20:45)
Slovakia – Ireland (20:45)
League C
Norway - Serbia (20:45)
Scotland - Israel (20:45)
League D
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Kosovo's second playoff, a "world away" from the first
Georgia – Belarus (18:00)
Macedonia W. - Kosovo (20:45)
