The draw in the semifinals of the League of Nations puts England against the Netherlands and Portugal with Switzerland

The draw in the semifinals of the League of Nations puts England against the Netherlands and Portugal with Switzerland

The new European club championship is an opportunity for teams of small countries disappointed by the domination of adults

Petkovic, Santos, Southgate and Koeman coach Switzerland, Portugal, England and the Netherlands in yesterday's draw (AFP)

Dublin: Middle East

The draw of the first round of the UEFA Champions League, which took place in Dublin yesterday, resulted in a confrontation between England, the Netherlands and Portugal with Switzerland .
The semi-finalists of the 2016 European Cup will meet in Porto on June 5, 2019, while the English and Dutch teams will face Gambia in sixth place.
The four matches (semi-finals, finals and third places) take place in Portugal. The final date of the third match was fixed on the 9th of the same month.
Each of the four teams dominated their group at the first level of the competition organized by the Continental Union this season for the first time, with the main objective of replacing the friendly matches with a competition of a competitive nature.
The Netherlands won first place group A at the first level at the expense of France, world champion 2018, and Germany won the title of the 2014 World Cup.
England, qualified for the group after a recent 2-1 win over Croatia, second in France at the 2018 Russia World Cup, and qualified for the fourth group, which also includes the United States. Spain, the 2010 World Cup and the European Cup in 2008 and 2012.
On the other hand, Switzerland dominated their second group at the expense of Belgium although they scored the same number (9 each), while Iceland did not have a balance. Switzerland set the record with a breathtaking victory over Belgium in the last match 5-2 after a half cleanup before third place in the World Cup.
Portugal beat Group C at the expense of Italy and Poland. The Portuguese team is the only one of the four teams to have lost a match in the group stage, which allowed them to host the finals of the competition.
"Portugal will host a big competition," said Portugal coach Fernando Santos. It is a pride for the Portuguese, for the federation, for the players. "
Santos refused to confirm whether captain Cristiano Ronaldo, five-time world champion at Juventus, would be in the semi-finals since he was away from Uruguay for the World Cup.
The winner of the European title wins 10.5 million euros, distributed between 4.5 million euros in the group stage and 6 million euros in the final.
For its part, the rider wins 9 million, including 8 million for the winner in the match for third place and 7 million for the loser.
On the other hand, the European Football Confederation officially approved the launch of a third continental competition for clubs from 2021, targeting small patrols on the mainland and the participation of 32 teams.
"The European League 2 will be open to clubs from 55 EU Member States, but the biggest chance will be for clubs in smaller countries.
According to the Association of European Clubs, which is behind the launch of the new competition, the number of club tournaments to three "will increase the total number of participants in the European Union (League of champions, European League, the new competition) to 96 teams, 32 teams in each competition.
This reform involves reducing the number of teams participating in the European league from 48 to 32 divided into eight groups of four.
The Europa League teams are relegated to the top three teams in the Champions League, with the winning teams joining the eight team champions in the second round.
The system is repeated between the new competition and the Europa League. The teams that have been re-established in the new competition will be in close contact with the teams that finished third in their group in the Europa League, with the winners coming in the second round.
"There will be more matches for more clubs and the group stage will see more unions," said UEFA President Aleksandr Severin.
The format of the UEFA Champions League is similar to that of the current system: the first round consists of eight teams consisting of four teams each and 16 teams qualified for the second round.
The second ranked teams meet with the third-ranked teams in the UEFA Champions League, as part of the playoffs before round 16. The winner will qualify directly for the UEFA Champions League next season.
The competition will take place on Thursday, like the Europa League, and the final of the three competitions will take place the same week: Wednesday for the new competition, Thursday for the Europa League and the Champions League. It will not be the first time that Europe has organized three club tournaments. In addition to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (Europa League currently), the Continental Union was organizing the European Cup competition before it was canceled.

Europe

Soccer