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#4: The Nations League kept the international game hugely relevant
After such an exciting World Cup in the summer, the fear for international football was that once the club season began again, it would simply overshadow the international game as it usually does, with attendance and fan interest dropping for a series of low-level qualifiers and meaningless friendly matches. But in Europe at least, 2018 was different, as the advent of UEFA’s new Nations League competition meant the World Cup momentum continued into the autumn.
The inaugural edition of the competition saw Europe’s best go head-to-head in competitive matches rather than in friendly fixtures, with a mini-tournament in the summer of 2019 at stake. We saw sides like England and the Netherlands become resurgent – beating Spain, Croatia, France and Germany in titanic results – and some classic games like Switzerland’s stunning 5-2 victory over Belgium.
Even the lower-level teams enjoyed the competition, as the format meant they were faced with one another in competitive matches for the first time, rather than being crushed by Europe’s giants. This meant that we saw some historic results, including the first ever international victory for Gibraltar, who defeated Armenia 0-1.
With promotion and relegation at stake, all of Europe’s sides came out looking to win, and fans got into the games much more than they would’ve done for friendly fixtures.
At first the Nations League felt like a big risk on the behalf of UEFA due to the slightly convoluted format. But in the end it proved to be a huge hit – and was another reason why 2018 was so fantastic for football.
