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Uefa Nations League 2022-23: Everything you need to know

Last updated on .From the section European Footballcomments561

Robert Pires at the Nations League draw
The draw was made on 16 December in Nyon, Switzerland

The 2022-23 Uefa Nations League starts on Wednesday, with all the home nations in action over the next two weeks.

The competition fills the gap created by the World Cup in Qatar moving to November.

England and Northern Ireland play four group games, while Wales have four along with a World Cup play-off final.

Scotland, who meet Ukraine in a World Cup play-off semi-final on Wednesday, face three Nations League matches, including the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

The Nations League is a biennial competition in its third edition. It was first won by Portugal in 2019 and France are the defending champions after beating Spain in the 2021 final.

So who are playing, what is the format and what is the point?

France celebrate winning the 2020-21 Nations League
Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe scored as France came from 1-0 down to beat Spain 2-1 in the 2020-21 final

How does it work?

As with the 2020-21 edition, the 2022-23 competition consists of three leagues of 16 teams and a fourth of seven.

League A - the top division - and Leagues B and C are split into four groups of four, while League D is made up of a group of four and a three.

The winners of each group in League A qualify for next year's finals tournament, while the winners of each group in Leagues B, C and D secure promotion to the next league up.

Teams who finish bottom of their groups in League A and B will be relegated, and those in League C will enter a play-off to decide who drops to League D.

Russia, suspended by Uefa because of the invasion of Ukraine, have already been placed bottom of Group B2.

Nations League draw
There are 55 Uefa nations, all of whom are in the Nations League, but Russia are not allowed to play their games

When are the games?

There are four rounds of games between 1 and 14 June and the final two matches will be played from 22-27 September.

The semi-finals will be played on 14 and 15 June, 2023 with the final and third-place play-off on 18 June.

Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland have applied to host the finals.

Who are the British and Irish teams playing?

Wales have been promoted to the top division for the first time but Northern Ireland are in the third section for the first time following relegation.

England stay in League A, while Scotland and the Republic of Ireland are again in League B.

A3A4B1C2
ItalyBelgiumUkraineNorthern Ireland
GermanyNetherlandsScotlandGreece
EnglandPolandRepublic of IrelandKosovo
HungaryWalesArmeniaCyprus

Wednesday, 1 June

Poland v Wales (17:00)

Thursday, 2 June

Northern Ireland v Greece (19:45)

Saturday, 4 June

Hungary v England (17:00)

Armenia v Republic of Ireland (14:00)

Sunday, 5 June

Cyprus v Northern Ireland (17:00)

Tuesday, 7 June

Germany v England (19:45)

Wednesday, 8 June

Wales v Netherlands (19:45)

Republic of Ireland v Ukraine (19:45)

Scotland v Armenia (19:45)

Thursday, 9 June

Kosovo v Northern Ireland (19:45)

Saturday, 11 June

England v Italy (19:45)

Wales v Belgium (19:45)

Republic of Ireland v Scotland (17:00)

Sunday, 12 June

Northern Ireland v Cyprus (14:00)

Tuesday, 14 June

England v Hungary (19:45)

Armenia v Scotland (17:00)

Ukraine v Republic of Ireland (19:45)

*All times are BST and subject to change

What other games are worth following?

All of Europe's heavyweights are in action over the next few days with some playing each other.

Spain host rivals Portugal on 2 June and European champions Italy host four-time World Cup winners Germany in Bologna on 4 June. The reverse fixture takes place in Monchengladbach on 14 June.

Belgium, second in Fifa's rankings, host the Netherlands in Brussels on 3 June.

How does this impact Euro 2024 qualifying?

We don't know yet.

The first Nations League produced all the play-off sides for Euro 2020 - and the second edition provided two play-off places for the 2022 World Cup.

Uefa will announce the format of Euro 2024 qualifying in June.

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561 comments

  • Comment posted by JohnB, at 10:44 31 May 2022

    I'm pretty sure all the commenters calling this a tinpot trophy / waste of time are also the same people who would criticise "pointless friendlies" if that's what we had instead! It's not the best tournament in the world, but it's far better than what we had before...

    • Reply posted by Latic, at 10:54 31 May 2022

      Latic replied:
      I consider the Nations League to be a waste of time, and would much prefer the return of the friendly fixtures. Those could be entirely ignored but the Nations League provides another arena for England to fail in. I agree about the World Cup preparation in one way - I'm sure it'll confirm our fears of another imminent disappointment.

  • Comment posted by GorbleGorble, at 10:45 31 May 2022

    People might think this tournament is useless, but we have competitive games against Germany and Italy. This is excellent preparation for the World Cup.

    Nobody really cares if we win this thing or not, but it's a lot better than friendlies.

    • Reply posted by brexiteer, at 10:50 31 May 2022

      brexiteer replied:
      True but STILL HAVE FRIENDLIES!

  • Comment posted by CarlH, at 11:06 31 May 2022

    "The competition fills the gap created by the World Cup in Qatar moving to November."

    Isn't the 2022/23 season starting sooner and will probably end up very congested and condensed after new year when the Cup competitions come into play. Haven't the players at the top teams just played more games than ever. Why not just have a "gap", lets have a break maybe?

    • Reply posted by drogsbreath, at 11:12 31 May 2022

      drogsbreath replied:
      Stop trying to be sensible Carl. You don't think for a minute that the governing powers give a tom about the players do you ?

  • Comment posted by King of the Terriers, at 10:48 31 May 2022

    People on this HYS column really think this is a worthless competition? The point of it is to replace meaningless friendlies with matches that have something to play for. Plus teams generally play teams of similar quality so no one sided matches. I think the idea behind this tournament is a good one.

    • Reply posted by RJsportfan, at 11:23 31 May 2022

      RJsportfan replied:
      I much prefer this tournament over the World Cup which has so many rubbish teams in it. The Euros are a better standard but still watered down now there are more teams in it. This is great from the get go.

  • Comment posted by Alex, at 10:43 31 May 2022

    So many negative comments about the Nations League. Get over yourselves. Most of us will watch it, enjoy it and, if our team does well, we'll celebrate it. It doesn't mean you hate UEFA any less, it just means you enjoy good quality football.

    • Reply posted by An independent England, at 10:45 31 May 2022

      An independent England replied:
      The same people were moaning that friendlies were pointless.

  • Comment posted by Mitch, at 10:42 31 May 2022

    The more times England test themselves against the Italys and the Germanys the better.. Far better than playing a lesser ranked team at a half empty Wembley in a 'friendly' with 10 subs at half time. Much better preparation for the World Cup later in the year

    • Reply posted by D1685024108247, at 10:52 31 May 2022

      D1685024108247 replied:
      Yes, a test against a team that has failed to qualify for the World Cup twice in a row should be invaluable.

  • Comment posted by frankie, at 10:53 31 May 2022

    Actually think EUFA got something right for a change when they introduced this competition. Way better than meaningless friendlies. Has the potential to improve the lower ranked sides and the reward of possibly Euro 24 qualification via play offs

    • Reply posted by RJsportfan, at 11:19 31 May 2022

      RJsportfan replied:
      Totally agree. Its a brilliant tournament.

  • Comment posted by AndyB_MOT, at 10:43 31 May 2022

    The one thing UEFA have got right.

    • Reply posted by Leroy, at 12:12 31 May 2022

      Leroy replied:
      There is a massive game tomorrow and what does the BBC publish - this garbage about a competition weeks away with a picture of a guy holding up a bit of paper with ‘England’ written on it - bless!

      Not a single article given to the WC qualifier on the footy home page! Unbelievable. Imagine all the McNulty specials on England we would have to suffer had they been playing tomorrow.

  • Comment posted by Matt77, at 11:10 31 May 2022

    “Uefa will announce the format of Euro 2024 qualifying in June”.

    In other words, we are making it up as we go along 😂🙈

    • Reply posted by Sirrantsalot, at 11:17 31 May 2022

      Sirrantsalot replied:
      It's probably got a bit to do with how many teams there are. Will Ukraine be able to enter? Russia will no doubt be excluded, unless there is a very rapid removal of Putin. And what if the conflict spreads? Moldova could be threatened too.

  • Comment posted by Northern Light, at 10:49 31 May 2022

    There's a lot of negativity about the Nations League....
    UEFA claim to have introduced it to address the issue of the calendar being filled with pointless friendlies...
    Given the friendly fixtures that seem to arise for all the home nations, isn't it better for England (for example) to be playing Germany and Italy rather than Switzerland and the Ivory Coast?

    • Reply posted by ben, at 15:02 31 May 2022

      ben replied:
      Better that they play nobody. This is the same pointless friendly by another name.

  • Comment posted by Strummer, at 10:40 31 May 2022

    What is the point, world football is hostage to FIFA & UEFA, where corruption and greed is rife, as seen by giving that great football nation & bastion of human rights Qatar the World Cup but not only that allowing it to take place in middle of the domestic season! It's the Europa Conference League of world football - set up to line the pockets of FIFA, UEFA. Waste of time.

    • Reply posted by Mr Standfast, at 10:55 31 May 2022

      Mr Standfast replied:
      Add in incompetence to corruption and greed.

  • Comment posted by brexiteer, at 10:49 31 May 2022

    This is the REAL REASONS for players burnout along with too many European competions destroying domestic leagues.

    • Reply posted by Leaguefan, at 11:31 31 May 2022

      Leaguefan replied:
      Rubbish.
      Work out how many actual hors a soccer player WORKS at the job. Not travelling, not photoshoots, not promoting a product but to the actual job. I did this once with a group of unemployed youths and they were amazed by what they found out.

  • Comment posted by Branditon, at 11:49 31 May 2022

    Why oh why? Just stop playing football for 6 weeks!

    Standby for all the moaning to start in September about how the Premier League player play too much football, how they're burnt out etc etc. For goodness sake just give us all a break from the sport for 6-8 weeks and then start the anticipation/excitement build up to the new season.

    • Reply posted by Windy M, at 13:53 31 May 2022

      Windy M replied:
      The EPL buy international players. So when the international window comes around, guess what the players will be doing?

  • Comment posted by Naughtius Maximus, at 14:53 31 May 2022

    In case anyone's wondering why groups A, B and C are more than twice the size of D - they were originally all the same size, until Germany finished bottom at the end of the first tournament and should have been relegated according to the rules at the time. UEFA didn't like that so instead decided to change the rules and make groups A, B and C bigger, effectively cancelling relegation that year.

    • Reply posted by ubercurmudgeon, at 03:00 1 Jun 2022

      ubercurmudgeon replied:
      Yep glad someone pointed this out. It's a farce Germany weren't relegated.

  • Comment posted by OSGOODWASGOOD , at 10:48 31 May 2022

    Really looking forward to this comp. Some cracking matches to look forward to.

    • Reply posted by RJsportfan, at 11:25 31 May 2022

      RJsportfan replied:
      absolutely

  • Comment posted by Janner, at 10:43 31 May 2022

    I think Eng v Italy is behind closed doors due to the final debacle last summer.

    • Reply posted by Latic, at 11:00 31 May 2022

      Latic replied:
      Good news in these perilous financial times - might save 10,000 or so people a few bob...

  • Comment posted by acebest, at 12:58 31 May 2022

    Just another money making ploy, to squeeze more out of the masses.

    • Reply posted by superal1966, at 13:55 31 May 2022

      superal1966 replied:
      The games are no more expensive to attend than the friendlies they are replacing.

  • Comment posted by Southsider, at 10:57 31 May 2022

    Great competition, gets rid of meaningless friendlies and offers smaller nations a greater chance of qualification for finals. FIFA should look at this for WC Qualification.

    • Reply posted by hbnews, at 11:11 31 May 2022

      hbnews replied:
      to a meaningless competition instead like watneys cup

  • Comment posted by SCHARTER, at 19:03 31 May 2022

    Anyone care?

  • Comment posted by flyingbanana, at 12:35 31 May 2022

    I'm not sure the question asked near the beginning of the article "...what's the point?" is actually answered later on....so, what is the point?

    • Reply posted by Viva Espana, at 17:05 31 May 2022

      Viva Espana replied:
      All you need to know about the Nations League...is that England will lose against the first good team they play against. Standard.

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