His heir apparent, Stephen Kenny, will have been watching with interest, though, as Ireland was handed what looks to be another tough task. The main purpose of the Nations League is to reduce the number of meaningless friendlies and bring an additional competitive element to international football. Once the winners and runners-up from regular qualifying for the 2022 finals in Qatar are known, the two highest-ranked Nations League group winners who did not qualify for the World Cup directly or finish as a group runner-up join the 10 runners-up in a two-round playoff system. Teams compete in four-team groups based on rankings – for instance the top 16 teams in the Uefa rankings compete in League A. The winners of the groups in League A will contest the Nations League finals in June 2021.

Source: The Irish Times March 03, 2020 17:46 UTC