I should probably mention it will be a slight change in the rules about merging/forging an alliance between countries. As I see no sence at all by merging for example, Sweden and England, as they don't have anyhing in common.
I want to focus more on merging regions, Scandinavia and Iberia for example. If you want to merge Sweden + Random Nation, I fail to see why we should have  a "Nations Cup" at all. 
Proposed list of alliances:
  Sweden, Norway & Denmark
  Belgium & Netherlands
  France & Luxembourg
  Austria & Switzerland 
  Spain & Portugal
  The Balkans
  The Baltic States
  UK & Ireland
  USA, Canada & Mexico