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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barry Glendenning

Spain, France and the unexplainable magic of the Nations League

Nations League Cristiano Ronaldo Football Daily Football Lamine Yamal Nathan Jones World Cup Carlo Ancelotti Charlton David Beckham
Nico Williams celebrates scoring with Dean Huijsen
Dean Huijsen and Nico Williams, doing their Nations League thing. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GAME

In common with the fiendishly complicated lunchtime TV quiz show Turnabout that was broadcast on the BBC during the 1990s, it is possible to watch and thoroughly enjoy the Nations League without having the foggiest idea what on earth is going on. Dreamed up by Uefa several years ago to eliminate the need for the kind of pointless international friendlies that – [Football Daily checks fixture list] – are taking place across Europe this weekend, the Nations League has managed to inveigle its way into the subconscious of most football fans to the extent that they know it is A Thing, even if the vast majority of them remain completely baffled by its format and are at a loss to explain why it exists.

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