The Dutch team will be in the third pot of the draw for next year’s European Championship. This seems unfortunate because on paper the Netherlands will have to play against two better countries. In practice, the difference in quality between the countries in the 2nd and 3rd category is almost non-existent. Only bag 1 is completely filled with the best countries.
There are four pots in total. One country is taken from each pot, and these countries together form a pool. For this reason, the Netherlands draws one country each from Pot 1, Pot 2 and Pot 4. The strongest teams usually go to the first two pots.
Still, the Dutch team will avoid a “pool of death”. For example, Albania and Austria, two relatively small football nations, are likely to be in pot 2. Italy and Croatia can easily be placed in the 3rd pot along with the Netherlands.
Matches will be played on Mondays and Tuesdays in qualifying Group B (including the Dutch team), Group C, Group D, Group E, Group H and Group I. Therefore the final container classification is not yet known. Check out the virtual format below. Participation of countries marked * in the European Championship is already guaranteed.
24 countries are participating in the European Championship, meaning there are six countries in each pot. Pot 1 is formed by the host nation Germany and the five best-performing group winners from the ten qualifying groups. The other five group winners and the best runners-up from the qualifying groups form Pot 2.
Calculations continue like this. The fourth pot consists of countries that still managed to qualify for the play-offs.
It is noteworthy that the results at the bottom of the six-nation qualifying groups are not included in the pot rankings. This means Slovakia has 16 points in the group instead of 22. Since the Netherlands are in a group of five, all fifteen points are important.
The draw for the European Championship will be held on December 2.
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
