CONCAFA Nations Cup 2020 draw held

CONCAFA Nations Cup 2020 | CONCAFA HQ | Finals Draw

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Following the CONCAFA club competition draws, the draw for next summer’s CONCAFA Nations Cup tournament has also been made at the CONCAFA HQ. Djaratia and Panduras failed to qualify from the recent qualifying tourney, so eight teams were placed into two groups for the summer showdown:

POT A held Aguador, Marida, Latania and Eboria.
POT B held Anderland, Réisha, Saint Louis and Targaria

They also held the draw for the position in group for places 2-4, with the first two teams out being number one in groups A & B respectively.

GROUP A	GROUP B
AGUADOR	EBORIA
MARIDA	ANDERLAND
RÉISHA	SAINT LOUIS
TARGARIA	LATANIA

Hosts Aguador will entertain WNC semi-finalists Marida, a returning Réisha side  and Targaria (debutants) in Group A.

Group B has defending champions Eboria locking horns with heavily-favoured Latania, and exciting young Anderland side and a competitive Saint Louis squad.

The tournament kicks off in Aguador in June 2020, with fixtures ordered as follows.

Group A
Aguador v Marida, Réisha v Targaria;
Aguador v Réisha, Marida v Targaria;
Aguador v Targaria, Marida v Réisha

Group B
Eboria v Anderland, Saint Louis v Latania;
Eboria v Saint Louis, Anderland v Latania;
Eboria v Latania, Anderland v Saint Louis

Semi-Finals
1-A1 v B2
2- B1 v A2

Final
Winner 1 v Winner 2

WNC18: Marida Qualify by thrashing NZ

WEFA World Nations Cup | Intercontinental Play-off

New Zealand 1-0 Marida
Marida 5-0 New Zealand (Marida win 5-1 on agg.)

WEFA under pressure to reconsider WNC places!

The WEFA Executives are under pressure to make more changes to the World Nations Cup Qualifying as the defending champions Netherlands, USA and other top nations missed out through the qualifying stages.

Pressure is now mounting under WEFA President Jacques Denis to add more teams to the   2022 edition in China. The preferred option seems to be a 40 team tournament. this brings back the question of how you run it: 10×4, 8×5 groups or a more radical option of a first round knock-out with 16 teams playing off before group or knock out stages.

We await further news!

The 2014 World Champions, the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2018 edition!

Eboria qualify for WNC ’18, Marida wait.

WEFA World Nations Cup 2018 Qualifiers | CONCAFA

It had come down to the last round of matches. If Eboria won against Latania, they were getting the automatic spot, draw or lose- and Marida could snatch that spot with a win away to Saint Louis.

Eboria won 2-0 at home, thanks to goals from Jake Carter and Roman Baric. Latania’s Mario Lotti hit the post and bar either side of half-time, teenage prodigy Mauro Bellatoni also missed essentially an open goal when it was 1-0. Baric’s strike with eleven minutes remaining meant that what was happening in Saint Louis was irrelevant. With qualification settled, it’s time to sort out the front end of the team- as they will possibly be without a fully fit Matt Murphy for the run up to the finals.

Marida won 3-0, thanks to a brace from Carlos Ricardo and a (now) rare goal from -Manha. Césaro limped off before the interval, which will be of concern for Nova Porto. Félix did not play either, following a minor injury picked up in the previous game.

Marida will now have a two-legged play-off against New Zealand for a place in the World Nations Cup finals next summer.

 

WEFA Executive: ‘No’ to expanding World Nations Cup

WEFA HQ | World Nations Cup

WEFA’s Executive have confirmed today that they do not plan to expand the number of teams competing beyond the current total of 32 nations. The executives have been mulling things over, postponing the decision back in January, to have more time to consider the impact.

WEFA President Jacques Denis announced the decision to a packed-out press conference. The reasons given for not expanding further are that:

• Host Strains. Going beyond 32 nations meant that extra strain would be placed on a host nation. Joint hosting would end up being the default position, which is not the preferred option. Spain and Portugal was a special joint-bid which WEFA want as an exception and not the rule.
• Level Playing Field. The 32 team format is seen as the ideal format, for players and fans. the committee looked at options for 40 or 48 teams taking part. Three-team or five-team groups would end up giving an advantage to certain teams- with rest days or anticipation
• Prestige and Quality. Expanding the competition was seen to dilute the competition and prestige of qualifying for the finals. Studies showed that more games featuring so-say ‘lesser’ teams are not popular with networks.
• Flexibility of Federation Slots. The number of places are based on merit and are not gold-plated to Europe and South America. WEFA can award more slots and are looking into more inter-continental play-off spots for 2026 and beyond.

Following this decision, both the European and South American teams may have to face up to less automatic places in the finals from 2026 onwards. Europe has 14 slots for 2018 in Spain & Portugal.

Europe            14 (Including co-hosts Spain and Portugal)
S America       4.5
CONCACAF     2.5
CONCAFA        1.5
Asia-Oceania  4.5
Africa               5

According to FCSN’s blog- projected 2026 places… (totally unofficial)

Hosts                1
Europe            10.5 
S America       4.5
CONCACAF    3
CONCAFA       2.5
Asia-Oceania  5.5
Africa               5

WEFA considering increasing WNC 2026

WEFA HQ | World Nations Cup

The WEFA Executive Congress has extended the timetable for expanding the prestigious World Nations Cup, so that a full and proper investigation can be undertaken.

The only problem with the current format is perhaps the allocation of teams. With 32 places up for grabs, it is important for the best teams to be able to show their talents off. This is why UEFA and CONMEBOL get such a high ratio of teams competing.