we explain to you why the match between Scotland and England in the Nations League has everything of a conflict of interest

The Women’s Nations League, the first edition of which is currently taking place, has become the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Paris Games.

This is a funny situation to say the least. In the final group match of the Nations League, Scotland and England will face each other on Tuesday December 5. But the stakes of this match go beyond this single competition and the result of the match could have consequences on the Olympic qualification of the Great Britain team for the Paris Games. Currently second in Group A1, behind the Netherlands, England could lose all hope of qualification in the event of a defeat against Scotland, which would at the same time oust itself from the Olympic dream.

Across the Channel, four football teams compete in the biggest international competitions: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But at the Olympic Games, players from these four entities come together to form “Team GB” (the Great Britain team). During the Tokyo Games in 2021, the Scots Caroline Weir and Kim Little, or the Welsh Sophie Ingle were the only non-English to play on the team. To obtain Olympic qualification, hopes rest on England, alone team designated to win the quota. A mechanism which could turn against the British players for Paris 2024.

A new qualifying tournament for the Games

Previously, the World Cup served as a qualifying tournament for the Games. For the European teams, it is now the League of Nations (with back-and-forth matches, a passage from the groups to the semi-finals), the first edition of which is currently taking place, which allocates two quotas for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 (two tickets in addition to that of France, automatically qualified as host country). To get this Olympic ticket, only the leaders of each group will advance to the semi-finals, before reaching a potential final, qualifying for the Games. So far, nothing complicated.

However, the result of the Scotland-England match, Tuesday December 5, turns out to be decisive. Scotland, already eliminated because they were last in their group, could, in the event of victory, dash any hope of qualification for England, and therefore more broadly for Team GB, for the Paris Games. In the event of defeat, England would be placed behind the Netherlands or Belgium in Group A1 and would therefore lose any chance of qualification.

But a victory for England does not guarantee its place at the Olympics. Even in the event of victory against Scotland, his Olympic hopes will depend on the result between the Netherlands and Belgium. If the Dutch were to win, their fate would also be sealed. Unless England were to beat Scotland while closing their goal difference with the Netherlands, by at least three goals. In the event of a draw or defeat for the Dutch, and a victory for England, the possibility of qualification would become possible again.

The Scottish dilemma

Scotland therefore faces a dilemma. By beating England, the Scots would put an end to Great Britain’s Olympic dream. The reasoning goes even further: do they have an interest in beating the English, even if it means participating in their own ousting, since certain Scottish players could join the Olympic team? Furthermore, is this situation fair for the Netherlands and Belgium, who can also still finish as leaders of their group and therefore still believe in qualification.

A problem that the manager of the Netherlands, Andries Jonker, highlighted on Friday December 1, after their defeat against the Lionesses (3-2) restarted everything for the head of the group. “When the draw was made, I told the players: ‘The only thing we can do is keep this in our hands’. Right away it was annoying, but that’s not the case. wasn’t going to change”, he told the British media The Guardian, while defining this situation of“odd”.

The English striker, Beth Mead, responded without hesitation: “We will focus on ourselves. We are the nominated team, we want to win the match, we want to score goals, so that is our goal.” Faced with this imbroglio, should the IOC review its copy to avoid such a situation in the future? Among their male counterparts, for example, the Olympic event is an under-23 tournament and depends on the results of the European U21 Championship. What could perhaps be inspired by for future editions.