So it's official! From 2018, UEFA will run a Nations League for European national teams.

The 54 member associations have agreed a format that will see countries split into four separate divisions based on their UEFA co-efficient, and which also includes automatic qualification to the European Championships for a select group of teams.

Although the detailed format of the competition is still undecided, at least 12 top-ranked sides would play in four groups in Division A. Those group winners would then advance to a finals tournament to be held in the summer.

Ireland however would be placed in Group B based on our current and projected future rankings.

Co-efficient 

The Boys in Green might lie in a lowly 35th in Europe according to the FIFA rankings, but according to the UEFA latest co-efficient ranking released at the end of 2013, Ireland are 19th. That would comfortably place us among the second tier of teams.

Of course that could change significantly over the next four years. Results in Euro 2016 and 2018 World Cup qualifying will play a major role in determining Ireland's position in the co-efficient rankings, as well as performances in either tournament assuming we get there. That makes qualifying for Euro 2016 and performing respectably all the more important.

The important dates for the FAI to keep an eye on are November 2015 and November 2017 when co-efficient rankings are released. 

The FAI will be watching proceedings with interest given the current issue with friendlies. Recent home friendly games against Latvia and Serbia have had generally high attendances but this is riding the crest of the wave engendered by the appointment of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane as the management team.

Prior to that friendlies against weaker nations have not whetted the appetite of fans. I went to last June's friendly against Georgia but the official attendance at the Aviva was a paltry 20,000.

With the competitive edge provided by the Nations League, the FAI and UEFA will hope that it can attract fans in a way that most international friendlies fail to do.