In a congested football season where elite players have aired the idea of going on strike, the Nations League returns this week looking less than a top priority.

France captain Kylian Mbappe opted to stay away, his probable deputy Antoine Griezmann retired from the national team, and Romelu Lukaku asked to work on his fitness at new club Napoli rather than join the Belgium camp.

Add a wave of injury call-offs in Germany and elsewhere — some of them serious, for Spain defender Dani Carvajal and German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen — and the Nations League will open an international door for newcomers.

Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco called up four potential debutants to experiment in games in what is the third-tier competition for European teams.

“We will not do it during the important World Cup qualification,” said Tedesco, looking ahead to that important next stage in 2025.

The 2026 World Cup in North America is, however, already in play for teams targeting that tournament and each has two Nations League games from Thursday through Tuesday.

Results in the next week, and two more games in November, are the last chance to gain a better seeding in the December 13 draw in Zurich for European qualifying groups for the World Cup.

Two teams pushing to raise their Fifa ranking and go into the draw pot of second-seeded teams are Norway and Slovenia.

Haaland vs Sesko

Europe's most feared striker and one of its emerging stars are due to meet again on Thursday in Oslo.

Erling Haaland and Benjamin Sesko, once teammates at Salzburg, are the main attractions when Norway host Slovenia in their second-tier League B group.

Haaland has 11 goals in 10 games for Manchester City this season plus a winning goal in the Nations League, sealing a 2-1 victory over Austria last month.

Sesko has six in nine games for Leipzig — including three in the Champions League — plus four in two Nations League games. The tall striker got a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.

Thursday's game will not be decisive in the group but it will decide who lead at the midway point and are set for promotion to the top tier. The return game in Ljubljana is November 14.

France captain

The last time France played a game with neither Mbappe nor Griezmann on the field? November 2016, in a 0-0 draw with Ivory Coast in a friendly.

It will happen again on Thursday when France face Israel in Budapest. The Hungarian capital is the neutral venue chosen since Israel's conflict with Hamas started one year ago.

Mbappe has faced a latest round of criticism at home by asking out of coach Didier Deschamp's squad last week then starting for Real Madrid in a league game on Saturday.

The search for a new captain has taken Deschamps back to Madrid, with 24-year-old midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni named to take the armband. France also travel to face Belgium on Monday. Tchouameni will bring his experience to a team lacking its biggest star.

Standout Italy

Italy lead the top-tier group that include France and Belgium after winning both their September games on the road. A 3-1 win in France, despite trailing in the first minute, was perhaps the standout performance in the Nations League last month.

Midfielder Curtis Jones and full-back Tino Livramento have been included in England's squad. Jones has represented England at youth level.