Uefa Nations League Q&A: What next for England and how does topping group affect their Euro 2020 chances?

After the novel - and slightly surreal - thrill of witnessing England leaving it late to beat Croatia to secure top spot in the Uefa Nations League A, Group 4 table, you may now have a few questions about what it all means. In these uncertain times of labyrinthine international competitions, we might just have the answers you need.

Well, that was exciting! Now what?

By virtue of edging out Spain and Croatia to win Group 4, England have booked their place at the inaugural Uefa Nations League finals, which take place next summer, along with the three other group winners in League A: Switzerland, Portugal and either France or Holland (depending on how the Dutch get on against Germany in Gelsenkirchen Monday.)

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The Uefa Nations League finals? It's not over yet?!

Nope, the aforementioned winners of the four top-flight groups will be drawn into two semi-finals, to be played in the Portuguese cities of Porto and Guimaraes on the June 5th/6th 2019. The same cities will then host the third place play-off (yes, unfortunately, that's still a thing) and the Uefa Nations League final on June 9th.

Portugal will be officially confirmed as hosts by Uefa's Executive Committee next month.

So we get a tournament to watch next summer?

Sort of: like a mini Euros, or a slightly smaller and more important version of Le Tournoi. And this will be repeated every two years, so England could conceivably be raising and then dashing your hopes and dreams, in one tournament or another, every single summer until the end of time.

So does this mean England have qualified for Euro 2020 already?

Absolutely not. They will join the other 55 Uefa nations, including reigning European champions Portugal, in the standard qualification slog, which begins in March 2019. So there's still all of that to look forward to.

Will England be seeded in that draw?

Yes! Having finished as one of the four best teams in the Uefa Nations League, England will be among the top seeds in the draw for Euro 2020 qualifying, which comes with the perk of being in a five-team group (all other groups will have six teams, which conveniently frees up two matchdays for the top four to battle it out in the Nations League finals in June.)

So that means no more rather pointless one-sided encounters home and away against San Marino, Liechtenstein or Andorra.

What other bonus for winning League A Group 4 is there?

Winning your Nations League group ensures you get a Euro 2020 qualification play-off, in case you fail to qualify automatically. The four best teams in each of the Nations Leagues A-D will play each other over two semi-finals and a final, resulting in four qualifiers for Euro 2020.

As well as giving successful Nations League teams a second chance to make it to the European Championship, it also ensures that one of Europe's lesser nations will be at the finals (Georgia and Belarus, for example, will be in the League D play-offs)

Who else has thoroughly enjoyed the Nations League, one of the greatest ideas Uefa have ever had?

Along with England, Switzerland have tasted a hint of glory by beating Belgium to top spot in League A Group 2, thanks to a stunning 5-2 win in Lucerne on Sunday night. Portugal topped Group 3, while we will find out Monday evening whether France or Holland have won Group 1.

Promoted from League B to the top tier for the 2020/21 Nations League are Ukraine, Bosnia and Denmark (with either Russia or Sweden going up with them once their mini-league has been decided.)

Leagues C and D are yet to be completed, but Scotland are still in with a shout of getting promoted to the second tier if they can beat Israel on Tuesday night.

Who have suffered the novel indignity of international relegation?

Prepare for some sniggers of schadenfreude: Germany (Germany! The Germans!) have been relegated to League B, along with Iceland, Poland and (to the sincere sounds of Three Lions at Wembley) the recent World Cup finalists Croatia.

Turkey, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be playing third-tier Nations League football in 2020/21, while the unfortunate trio of Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia will be in League D next time round.