Nations League draw

On tomorrow for the new season, which is being disappointingly crammed into two international windows (4 in the first window from 24 Sept to 6 Oct, and then the final 2 between 12 and 17 Nov). Means a key injury (hello, Kelleher and Parrott!) could make a huge difference. The pots are - Pot 1 Scotland Hungary Poland Israel Pot 2 Switzerland Bosnia Austria Ukraine Pot 3 Slovenia Georgia Ireland Romania Pot 4 Sweden North Macedonia Northern Ireland Kosovo Really don't want the hassle of drawing the Israelis. Hungary would be about as spicy a rematch as you could imagine though. Sweden in pot 4 could be the difference between relegation and staying up. You'd probably fancy Bosnia in pot 2, but not a massive amount between the four teams there UEFA Nations League(uefa.com) [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Nations_League]2026/27 UEFA Nations League(wikipedia)[/url[ 2026/27 UEFA Nations League - Group B 2026/27 UEFA Nations League - Group B3

Give me Warsaw, Sarajevo and Skopje please!!

An away double header to Sarajevo and Skopje would be off-the-fricking-charts enjoyable.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

On tomorrow for the new season, which is being disappointingly crammed into two international windows (4 in the first window from 24 Sept to 6 Oct, and then the final 2 between 12 and 17 Nov). Means a key injury (hello, Kelleher and Parrott!) could make a huge difference.

The pots are -

Pot 1
Scotland
Hungary
Poland
Israel

Pot 2
Switzerland
Bosnia
Austria
Ukraine

Pot 3
Slovenia
Georgia
Ireland
Romania

Pot 4
Sweden
North Macedonia
Northern Ireland
Kosovo

Really don't want the hassle of drawing the Israelis. Hungary would be about as spicy a rematch as you could imagine though.

Sweden in pot 4 could be the difference between relegation and staying up. You'd probably fancy Bosnia in pot 2, but not a massive amount between the four teams there

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Lets go with

Israel
Bosnia
Ireland
Northern Ireland

for the political & religious craic.

Off topic: It seems that for you guys in this thread, formatting and quoting works. It doesn't for me.

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Originally Posted by sidewayspasser

Off topic: It seems that for you guys in this thread, formatting and quoting works. It doesn't for me.

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using desktop, I have to click on "quote" twice to be able to quote the poster... so it wont do the quick quote but it will bring you to a fresh page - if that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

using desktop, I have to click on "quote" twice to be able to quote the poster... so it wont do the quick quote but it will bring you to a fresh page - if that makes sense.

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Strange - yeah, two clicks on "Quote" works.

I manually added the bold font with the tags (b) and (/b), but [] instead of ()

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Lets go with

Israel
Ukraine
Ireland
Northern Ireland

for the political & religious craic.

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That's better.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

That's better.

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Also, zero away games for us in that group.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

That's better.

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I just thought a bit of low grade muslim mayhem in the mix there would round the chaos out nicely.

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Originally Posted by SkStu

I just thought a bit of low grade muslim mayhem in the mix there would round the chaos out nicely.

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To be fair I can see that angle, but Russian money in Israel (Hello Roman) would be a lovely tangent with Ukraine.
truth be told, I don't give an Ellis Boyd Redding.

just drew Israel ...

Israel Austria Kosovo Pretty handy group.

Surely having Israel will create many off field issues?

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

just drew Israel ...

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Had to happen at some stage I guess

Fine incoming for the inevitable (and feck it - deserved) booing of their anthem, especially after the fine v England for the same thing

Kosovo could be dangerous as bottom seeds. I'd say the points they take will be big in terms of final placing. I don't feel they'll be Armenia/Finland bad

Austria tricky second seeds. Probably stronger than Israel - Elo actually has Israel as the weakest team, and Kosovo ahead of us

Had to happen but hoped it would be a bit down the line. Things are obviouly still particularly raw and politically loaded. There will be calls for us to boycott the game. If they continue to play their home games in neutral venues it might help. Im conflicted on whether the game should be hosted and used as a platform to protest or just refuse to play. The way things are going the conflict could be in full swing again by the Nations League. Its a headache we could have done without which is a selfish comment in the grand scheme.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

Had to happen but hoped it would be a bit down the line. Things are obviouly still particularly raw and politically loaded. There will be calls for us to boycott the game. If they continue to play their home games in neutral venues it might help. Im conflicted on whether the game should be hosted and used as a platform to protest or just refuse to play. The way things are going the conflict could be in full swing again by the Nations League. Its a headache we could have done without which is a selfish comment in the grand scheme.

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FAI have already put a statement out saying they will host them.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA-dOFsX...jpg&name=large

It could prove an issue also what hotel will take their booking??

I'm minded of the time that government refused to give the Yugoslavia travelling party visas in 1999. Possibly cost us a spot at the Euros because we ended up with a triple-header window as a result and lost in the last minute in Croatia.

So that's an option too, although I can't see the current government going for it, outspoken as they are about Israel

We're all far too obsessed with money these days

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I'm minded of the time that government refused to give the Yugoslavia travelling party visas in 1999. Possibly cost us a spot at the Euros because we ended up with a triple-header window as a result and lost in the last minute in Croatia.

So that's an option too, although I can't see the current government going for it, outspoken as they are about Israel

We're all far too obsessed with money these days

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It will still be the FAI that are punished if visas are refused. UEFA regs put the onus on the hosts to ensure visas.

That was the case on 99 as well, but it still happened

Behind closed doors game then?