The Malta national team will be among seven teams playing in the League D of the UEFA Nations League as the European governing body of football approved changes to the format in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
This change to the format followed a consultation process which involved all of UEFA's 55 national associations and reflects upon their desire to further minimise the number of friendly matches.
“In addition, it enhances sporting fairness as all teams in the same group will play their last match on the same day and at the same time. Moreover, the number of competitive matches during the competition's league phase will increase from 138 to 162, thereby increasing the commercial value of the competition,” UEFA said in a statement.
The new league structure comprises 16 teams in Leagues A, B and C and seven teams in League D, as of the 2020/21 edition. The teams are allocated to leagues based on the overall ranking following the 2018/19 inaugural UEFA Nations League.
According to the new format, League D will be split into two groups, one comprising of four teams and the other of three. Along with Malta the other teams in this league are Gibraltar, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino.
League A teams will be split into four groups of four, with group winners then contesting the UEFA Nations League Finals in June 2021 to become the second UEFA Nations League winners. The participating countries in this section are Portugal (holders), Netherlands, England, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Poland, Germany and Iceland.
Teams who finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League B.
League B will be formed by Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic, Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland, Slovakia, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary and Romania
The participating countries will be split into four groups of four. The group winners will gain promotion. Teams who finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League C.
League C will be split into four groups of four and will see the participation of Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova.
The group winners will gain promotion. Two League C teams will be relegated to League D for the third edition of the competition in 2022/23. Those two teams are determined by play-offs (home and away), to be played between the four fourth-ranked teams from each League C group.
The 2021 Nations League draw will be held in March 2020 in Amsterdam.