September, October and November of 2018 will be busy months for Malta as the national team will play six qualifiers in the newly-created UEFA Nations League.
The UEFA Nations League will see the participation of the 55 member associations of UEFA with teams split into four divisions according to their strength. The League Phase draw of the UEFA Nations League will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, in the Swiss city of Lausanne, starting at noon. Malta FA President Norman Darmanin Demajo, General Secretary Dr Angelo Chetcuti, national coach Tom Saintfiet and Ivan Vella, the team manager of the national team, are due to attend the draw. MATCH DATESLeague D will be made up of four groups of four teams each with games being played on a home and away basis on six matchdays, all double-headers, between September and November 2018. The winners of the four groups in League D will advance to the play-offs which will take place in March 2020, and the overall winner will be rewarded with a berth in Euro 2020. LEAGUE D Pot 1: Azerbaijan, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, GeorgiaPot 2: Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, LuxembourgPot 3: Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, MaltaPot 4: Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar EURO 2020 BERTHSAn added bonus of the UEFA Nations League is that it will offer teams another chance to qualify for the UEFA EURO final tournament, with four sides from each of the four leagues qualifying through play-off matches. If any winners are already qualified through the European Qualifiers, then their play-off position will be allocated to the next best-ranked team of the league in question, taking into account the global ranking within the league, and then if necessary to the following league in decreasing order taking into consideration the global ranking of the relevant league. PROMOTION AND RELEGATIONIn each league, four group winners are promoted (or play in the Final Four for League A group winners) and four teams are relegated for the next competition to be played in 2020 The overall UEFA Nations League rankings will determine the composition of the draw pots for the subsequent European qualifiers.