New league to increase pressure on O’Neill

Success in their Ireland jobs for Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane yesterday became a lot more than just about qualifying for Euro 2016 following confirmation by Uefa of a new Nations League from 2018.

The concept, to replace most friendly internationals, will involve the 54 European nations divided into four divisions, with another subset of pools within these.

Although all countries under the auspices of Uefa unanimously backed the overhaul at its congress in Kazakhstan, it won’t be until late 2017 when they discover which of them become winners and losers due to the switch.