| UEFA Nations League | |
| MATCH INFO | |
MATCH :
| Sweden V/s Azerbaijan
|
COMPETITION : | Round 6
|
| DATE: | 20-11-2024
|
TIME:
| 1:15 AM IST (UTC +5:30)
|
STADIUM:
| Friends Arena
|
| Sweden | Lineup |
Possible XI: Johansson; Starfelt, Hien, Gudmundsson; Holm, Karlstrom, Bergvall, Sema; Forsberg; Isak, Lidberg. | |
| Azerbaijan | Lineup |
Possible XI: Jafarov; Aliyev, Mustafazada, B. Huseynov, Mammadov, Cafarguliyev; Sheydayev, Nuriyev, Isayev, Bayramov; Emreli. | |
Preview: Sweden Vs Azerbaijan
Having booked an immediate return to League B, Sweden can play their final UEFA Nations League group game stress-free, as they welcome Azerbaijan to Solna on Tuesday:
After dominating their third-tier opponents this season, Sweden confirmed promotion on Saturday evening, seeing off the challenge of second-placed Slovakia by winning 2-1 on home turf.
The Swedes' powerful front pair of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres both scored again, with the latter bolstering his already glowing reputation by becoming the 2024-25 Nations League's joint-top scorer on five goals.
With such firepower to hand, it is no surprise that Jon Dahl Tomasson's side have sealed top spot with one game remaining, and they can afford to relax until World Cup qualifying kicks off next year.
Sweden would even have had a perfect record if they managed to retain a two-goal lead in Slovakia, who fought back to steal a point in Bratislava last month.
It all kicked off with a 3-1 away victory over Azerbaijan in September, when Isak and Gyokeres were both on target in Baku, and Tomasson's troops must now wrap things up by meeting the same opponents on home turf.
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About UEFA Nations League:
History
The UEFA Nations League is a international football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The first tournament began in September 2018. The four group winners from League A qualified for the finals, played in Portugal in June 2019. The competition replaces the international friendly matches previously played on the FIFA International Match Calendar, with European national teams engaging in more frequent competitive matches against other European national teams of comparable level.
Since 1999, various UEFA bodies had discussed national associations' needs for more competitive fixtures, including more attractive international friendlies, more competitive matches and increased revenue. In 2001, UEFA proposed three potential formats for a new national team competition, with a first edition tentatively planned for 2004–2007. However, this ultimately did not come to fruition.
In October 2013, Norwegian Football Association President Yngve Hallén confirmed that talks had been held to create a third full national-team international tournament for UEFA members in addition to the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship.
The concept of the UEFA Nations League would see all of UEFA's member associations' national teams divided into a series of groups based upon a ranking formulated using their recent results, where they would be promoted and relegated to other groups according to their results within the group. The proposed tournament would take place on dates on the FIFA International Match Calendar that were previously allocated for international friendlies and would not affect the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship.
In March 2014, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino stated that one of the benefits of the proposal would be to help "less glamorous" national associations arrange games.
The Royal Belgian Football Association's general secretary, Steven Martens, said that lower-ranked nations would still benefit financially from the competition, as the television contract with UEFA would be centralised. The UEFA Nations League was unanimously adopted by the 54 UEFA member associations at the XXXVIII Ordinary UEFA Congress in Astana on 27 March 2014.
