The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League will be the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition will be held from June to September 2022, June 2023 and March 2024.
Format
The 55 UEFA national teams will be divided into four leagues, with Leagues A, B and C featuring 16 teams each, divided into four groups of four teams. League D will feature 7 teams divided into two groups, with one containing four teams and the other containing three. The teams are allocated to leagues based on the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League overall ranking. Each team will play six matches within their group, except for one group in League D which will play four, using the home-and-away round-robin format on double matchdays in June and September 2022. In the top division, League A, teams compete to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four group winners of League A qualify for the Nations League Finals in June 2023, which is played in a knockout format, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off, and final. The semi-final pairings, along with the administrative home teams for the third place play-off and final, are determined by means of a draw. The host country will be selected among the four qualified teams by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winners of the final crowned as the Nations League champions. Teams also compete for promotion and relegation to a higher or lower league. In Leagues B, C and D, the group winners are promoted, while the last-placed teams of each group in Leagues A and B are relegated. As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams which are to be relegated will be determined by play-outs in March 2024. Based on the [|Nations League overall ranking] of the fourth-placed teams, the first-ranked team will face the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team will face the third-ranked team. Two ties will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs will remain in League C, while the loser will be relegated to League D. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, with extra time played if away goals are also equal. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, with a penalty shoot-out used to decide the winner if no goals are scored during extra time.
Tiebreakers for group ranking
If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied:
Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 10 apply;
Superior goal difference in all group matches;
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
Higher number of wins in all group matches;
Higher number of away wins in all group matches;
Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches.
Position in the [|2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list].
Notes
Criteria for league ranking
Individual league rankings are established according to the following criteria:
Position in the group;
Higher number of points;
Superior goal difference;
Higher number of goals scored;
Higher number of goals scored away from home;
Higher number of wins;
Higher number of wins away from home;
Lower disciplinary points total.
Position in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list.
In order to rank teams in League D, which is composed of different sized groups, the results against the fourth-placed team in Group D1 are not taken into account for the purposes of comparing teams placed first, second and third in their respective groups. The ranking of the top 4 teams in League A are determined by their finish in the Nations League Finals:
The winner is ranked 1st;
The runner-up is ranked 2nd;
The third-placed team is ranked 3rd;
The fourth-placed team is ranked 4th.
Criteria for overall ranking
The overall UEFA Nations League rankings are established as follows:
The 16 League A teams are ranked 1st to 16th according to their league rankings.
The 16 League B teams are ranked 17th to 32nd according to their league rankings.
The 16 League C teams are ranked 33rd to 48th according to their league rankings.
The 7 League D teams are ranked 49th to 55th according to their league rankings.
Schedule
Below is the schedule of the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League. Due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar taking place at the end of the year, the league phase will be played in June and September 2022. The relegation play-outs of League C will take place during the same international window as the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs.
All 55 UEFA national teams will enter the competition. The teams which finished bottom of their group in Leagues A and B, as well as the losers from the relegation play-outs of League C, from the 2020–21 season will move down a league, while the group winners of Leagues B, C and D will move up. The remaining teams will stay in their respective leagues. ;League A or B ;League A, B or C ;League B, C or D ;League C or D
