The scene is a familiar one. It’s a dark and dank night, seemingly always on a Tuesday, and there’s an international friendly taking place.
Large swathes of empty seats are visible in the stands, with even those in attendance absent in spirit. More than likely, a number of key players are missing in body too, because what would an international friendly be without a raft of call-offs? It’s a hollow spectacle.
Indeed, friendlies have long been the bane of the international circuit; the thing that more than anything turns fans towards the club game and away from their national teams. Now, UEFA wants to eradicate this.
They want to make meaningless friendlies played in the vacuum of disinterested apathy a thing of the past. Enter the UEFA Nations League.
This is the ploy of European football’s governing body to give international football some fresh momentum, essentially adding another competition to bridge the gap between the end of the World Cup and the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
And so while there may have been a heap of international friendlies to be played this week - the first international break of the new season - now we will witness the birth of a new tournament.
But will the UEFA Nations League be taken seriously as a competition? Will countries look at these fixtures as little more than glorified friendlies in the same way clubs look at summer tournaments like the International Champions Cup? Or will they be seen as competitive games alongside the qualification campaigns?
UEFA Nations League: Michel Platini's brainchild is more important than people think
The UEFA Nations League is a lot more important than people realise
