With the inaugural Nations League program ending Tuesday, the 2020 European Championship is up next for the continent's national teams.
All 24 places at Euro 2020 are up for grabs when qualifying starts in March, although the Nations League helped shape the draw that will be held on Dec. 2 in Dublin.
Germany, for instance, won't be among the top-seeded teams because of its poor results since September.
For 16 teams, there already is a backup plan to reach Euro 2020. Those Nations League group winners are sure of a place in a playoff round held in March 2020 regardless of their finish in the traditional qualifying groups.
Another quirk of Euro 2020 is there are 12 host countries — from Ireland in the west to Azerbaijan in the east — and none gets an automatic entry.
Here is the Euro 2020 outlook:
EURO 2020 QUALIFYING DRAW
All 55 teams in the Dec. 2 draw are seeded according to Nations League results.
They will be drawn into five groups of five teams and five six-team groups, with games played from March to November next year.
The Nations League top-tier group winners — Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England — must be in the smaller, five-team groups. They will play the Final Four tournament hosted by Portugal in June when others are playing Euro 2020 qualifiers.
The top two finishers in each group qualify automatically for Euro 2020.
Pot 1: Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Poland.
Pot 2: Germany, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic.
Pot 3: Slovakia, Turkey, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland, Bulgaria, Israel.
Pot 4: Hungary, Romania, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Georgia.
Pot 5: Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Luxembourg, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Gibraltar, Faeroe Islands.
Pot 6: Latvia, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, San Marino.
EURO 2020 PLAYOFFS
The last four places at the tournament will be decided through a 16-team playoff, the format of which is completely new.
Four teams from each of four Nations League tiers will play in a mini-tournament featuring semifinals and a final next March 26-31. The four winners advance to complete the 24-team Euro 2020 lineup.
If one of the Nations League group winners have already secured a spot, the next-best team in that tier will make the playoffs.
It is a golden opportunity for fourth-tier League D teams which are unlikely to qualify automatically.
So, one of Georgia, Macedonia, Kosovo or Belarus will make its tournament debut at Euro 2020. For Kosovo, it's a first entry in qualifying after gaining membership of UEFA and FIFA only in 2016.
Other potential playoff lineups:
League C: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland.
League B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden.
League A: Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, England.
12 HOST COUNTRIES
Euro 2020 will be hosted in 12 cities in 12 different countries, kicking off in Rome on June 12.
It was supposed to be 13 cities — each hosting three group-stage games plus a knockout game from the round of 16 or a quarterfinal — but Brussels dropped out when a new stadium project failed.
The semifinals and final were awarded to Wembley Stadium in London, which also stepped in to get the four Brussels games.
Host nation teams who qualify will have at least two home games in the group stage.
The host city pairings are:
Group A: Rome, Italy; Baku, Azerbaijan.
Group B: St. Petersburg, Russia; Copenhagen, Denmark.
Group C: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Bucharest, Romania.
Group D: London, England; Glasgow, Scotland.
Group E: Bilbao, Spain; Dublin, Ireland.
Group F: Munich, Germany; Budapest, Hungary.
Round of 16 games (June 27-30) will be in: London, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Budapest, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Glasgow, Dublin.
Quarterfinals (July 3-4) will be in St. Petersburg, Munich, Baku, Rome.
The semifinals will be July 7-8 in London, and the final on July 12.
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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Tre’Davious White arrived in Buffalo in 2017 driven to be the best and began entertaining visions of one day wearing a Hall of Fame gold jacket before two debilitating injuries stopped the cornerback's rising trajectory.
It took time, bouts with depression and spending a year away from Buffalo for White to find peace and discover what matters most in life upon rejoining the Bills this season.
"Football means a lot, but it’s not the end-all and be-all. Good game, bad game, my people still gonna love me,” White told The Associated Press as Buffalo (12-5) prepares to open the playoffs at Jacksonville (13-4) on Sunday.
“I feel I’ve got so much life to give other than what I can do on the football field. And that freed me up,” he added. “I just think this game has given me that perspective on life. And I wouldn’t have got it nowhere else if I wouldn’t have went through those dark times."
The limits of White's resolve were tested after he tore a left knee ligament in 2021 and then his right Achilles tendon in 2023. There were days during his recovery when members of the Bills training staff had to visit his home to coax the player out from his basement.
White’s new-found perspective has been reflected nearly every day this season in how he greets everyone with a beaming smile and happily skips each time he takes the field. This wasn’t always the case in 2022 and ’23, when White turned inward by declining interview requests to the point he faced potential NFL fines for not following the league’s media policy.
“I didn’t have much to cheer or be upbeat about,” White said, reflecting back. “But I’ve learned over time that I can’t let the game dictate my attitude toward life. ... Because at the end of the day, when I stop playing, nobody is gonna care how many tackles I had.”
On Thursday, White was giddy upon being voted the Pro Football Writer’s Association’s Buffalo chapter Kent Hull Stand-up Guy, an award given to a player best demonstrating respect, thoughtfulness and cooperation with reporters.
"Ain’t no way,” he said, with a laugh upon accepting the plaque. “My teammates have to be as mean as (stuff) if you all are giving me this award.”
White, who turns 31 next week, has made a bigger impact on the Bills with his play, willingness to share his wisdom and upbeat demeanor.
“He brings so much joy, so much positivity, so much energy. It means so much to have him back,” cornerback Christian Benford said. “I’m so proud and thankful God has uplifted his spirit, his mind to allow him to bounce back and fight through a lot of this.”
Sean McDermott grows emotional nearly each time he speaks of the player from Shreveport, Louisiana, who starred at LSU before becoming Buffalo's first draft pick upon the coach's arrival.
“I can’t say enough good things about Tre’ and what he means to me, personally, and what he’s meant to our football team,” McDermott said. “I just believe in my heart that there’s something deeper behind all of it with Tre’ because I know what this place means to him.”
If not for his injuries and contract, White wouldn’t have departed Buffalo in the first place after being cut in March 2024 for salary-cap reasons. Upon splitting last season between the Rams and Ravens, White was so eager to re-sign with Buffalo, he told his agent to not call unless he had a deal done with the Bills.
“When I go to sleep at night and when I envision myself making plays, it’s always in red, white and blue,” White said, referring to the Bills' colors.
“This is where I want to be. This is where I’m supposed to be. This is home,” he added. “When I take my last snap as a football player, I want it to be in red, white and blue and No. 27, rightfully so. Hopefully.”
However uncertain his future is beyond the playoffs, White gained closure in a season during which he reestablished himself with 16 starts and an interception. The production might pale from the days White was regarded as one of the NFL’s top shutdown cornerbacks and earned first- and second-team All-Pro honors in 2019 and ’20.
But what are numbers to White, who wondered why it takes someone having to reach their lowest point to find themselves.
“We shouldn’t let extreme circumstances turn us into a person that's going to help others or see life this way now because this happened to me,” White said. “No, let’s see life for what it is right now, and not wait until bad things happen.”
It’s a lesson he's imparting to his three sons.
“I’m so happy that I was able to go through what I went through, to get that callous and come out the man that I am now,” White said. “I feel like maybe as a player, it may not have been what I wanted. But as a person, I’m better going forward.”
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Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White (27) remains on the field to watch a tribute video after the Bills beat the New York Jets in the Bills' final regular-season NFL football home game in Highmark Stadium Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y.(AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
