UEFA: changes in format for men's national team competitions from September 2024

New UEFA competition formats for men's national teams, which will come into effect from September 2024, have been adopted by the European Confederation's executive committee, according to the body on 25/01/2023.

For the Euro (from 2028) and World Cup (from 2026) qualifiers, the "European Qualifiers" will change as follows:
• "Teams being drawn in 12 groups of four and five teams (compared to seven groups of five and three groups of six for Euro 2024 qualifying), consequently revitalising the competition by making it less predictable and more dynamic.
• Teams drawn in groups of five will kick off the qualifiers in March, or in June if they are still competing in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals or are involved in promotion/relegation matches.
• Teams drawn in groups of four will start their campaigns in September.
• The group-winners of the European Qualifiers will qualify directly for the UEFA Euro (12 teams out of 24 in total) or the FIFA World Cup (12 teams out of 16 places allocated to Europe in total from 2026), whereas the second-placed teams will either qualify directly…