2022–23_UEFA_Nations_League

2022–23 UEFA Nations League

2022–23 UEFA Nations League

International football competition


The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was 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.[1] The competition was held from June to September 2022 (league phase), June 2023 (Nations League Finals), and March 2024 (relegation play-outs).[2][3]

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

Following their win in 2021, defending champions France were unable to retain their title in the finals after finishing third in their group.[4][5]

Spain won the final against Croatia, 5–4 on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra time, for their first UEFA Nations League title.

Format

The 55 UEFA national teams were divided into four leagues, with Leagues A, B, and C featuring 16 teams each, divided into four groups of four teams. League D featured seven teams divided into two groups, with one containing four teams and the other containing three. The teams were allocated to leagues based on the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League overall ranking. Each team played six matches within their group, except for one group in League D which played four, using the home-and-away round-robin format in June (four matchdays) and September 2022 (two matchdays).[6]

In the top division, League A, teams competed to become the UEFA Nations League champions. The four group winners of League A qualified for the Nations League Finals in June 2023, which was 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, were determined using a draw. The host country was 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 competed for promotion and relegation to a higher or lower league. The group winners in Leagues B, C, and D were promoted, while the last-placed teams of each group in Leagues A and B were relegated. As League C had four groups while League D had only two, the League C team that was to be relegated was determined by relegation play-outs in March 2024.

Originally, the play-outs would have involved all four of the fourth-placed League C teams, with the two losers being relegated to League D.[2] However, due to the ongoing suspension of Russia from all UEFA competitions,[7] the league allocation for the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League was changed so that only one team would be relegated to League D, ensuring that League C would still consist of 16 teams.[8] Based on the Nations League overall ranking of the fourth-placed teams, the two worst-ranked teams qualified for the play-outs.[8]

The tie was played over two legs, with the higher-ranked team hosting the second leg. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs remained in League C, while the loser was relegated to League D. If the aggregate score was level, extra time was played without the away goals rule. If the score remained level after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner.[2]

Tiebreakers for group ranking

If two or more teams in the same group were equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:[2]

  1. Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
  2. Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
  3. Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question;
  4. If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[lower-alpha 1] If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 11 applied;
  5. Superior goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Higher number of wins in all group matches;
  9. Higher number of away wins in all group matches;
  10. Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card due to two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
  11. Position in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list.

Notes

  1. When there were two or more teams tied in points, criteria 1 to 3 were applied. After these criteria were applied, they may have defined the position of some of the teams involved, but not all of them. For example, if there was a three-way tie on points, the application of the first three criteria may only break the tie for one of the teams, leaving the other two teams still tied. In this case, the tiebreaking procedure was resumed, from the beginning, for those teams that were still tied.

Criteria for league ranking

Individual league rankings were established according to the following criteria:[2]

  1. Position in the group;
  2. Higher number of points;
  3. Superior goal difference;
  4. Higher number of goals scored;
  5. Higher number of goals scored away from home;
  6. Higher number of wins;
  7. Higher number of wins away from home;
  8. Lower disciplinary points total (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card due to two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).
  9. Position in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list.

To rank teams in Leagues B and D, which were composed of different sized groups,[note 1] the results against the fourth-placed teams in these leagues were not taken into account when comparing teams placed first, second and third in their respective groups.[2][9]

The ranking of the top 4 teams in League A was determined by their finish in the Nations League Finals.[2]

Criteria for overall ranking

The overall UEFA Nations League rankings were established as follows:[2]

  1. The 16 League A teams were ranked 1st to 16th according to their league rankings.
  2. The 16 League B teams were ranked 17th to 32nd according to their league rankings.
  3. The 16 League C teams were ranked 33rd to 48th according to their league rankings.
  4. The 7 League D teams were ranked 49th to 55th according to their league rankings.

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying

The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was linked with UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, providing teams another chance to qualify for UEFA Euro 2024.

The Euro 2024 qualifying group stage took place from March to November 2023, deciding 20 of the 23 teams that advanced to the final tournament to join hosts Germany. The 53 teams were drawn into ten groups after the completion of the UEFA Nations League (seven groups of five teams and three groups of six teams, with the four participants in the 2023 UEFA Nations League Finals guaranteed to be drawn into groups of five teams), with the top two teams in each group qualifying. The draw seeding was based on the overall ranking of the Nations League.

Following the qualifying group stage, the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs took place in March 2024. The participants of the play-offs were not decided based on results from the qualifying group stage. Instead, twelve teams were selected based on their performance in the 2022–23 Nations League. These teams were divided into three paths, each containing four teams, with one team from each path qualifying for the final tournament. The group winners of Nations Leagues A, B, and C automatically qualified for the play-off path of their league unless they had already qualified for the final tournament via the qualifying group stage. If a group winner had already qualified through the qualifying group stage, they were replaced by the next best-ranked team in the same league. However, if there were not enough non-qualified teams in the same league, then the spot would go first to the best-ranked group winner of League D unless that team had already qualified for the final tournament. The remaining slots were then allocated to the next best team in the Nations League overall ranking, with the restriction that group winners of Leagues B and C could not face teams from a higher league.

The three play-off paths each featured two single-legged semi-finals and one single-legged final. In the semi-finals, the best-ranked team hosted the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team hosted the third-ranked team. The host of each final was drawn between the winners of the semi-final pairings. The three play-off path winners joined the 20 teams that already qualified for the final tournament via the group stage.[10]

Schedule

The schedule of the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was as follows.[2] Due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar that took place at the end of the year, the league phase was played in June and September 2022.

More information Stage, Round ...

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 17 December 2021, the day following the draw.[12][13] The fixture list for groups A4 and B1 were amended due to the postponement of Path A of UEFA qualifying for the World Cup.[11]

The relegation play-outs of League C were scheduled on the same dates as the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs. If one or more of the teams due to participate in the relegation play-outs had also qualified for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs, the relegation play-outs would have been cancelled and the lowest-ranked team in League C Nations League overall ranking would have been automatically relegated.[2]

Seeding

Map showing the leagues each national team participated in.
  League A
  League B
  League C
  League D

All 55 UEFA national teams entered 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 moved down a league, while the group winners of Leagues B, C, and D moved up. The remaining teams stayed in their respective leagues.[14]

In the 2022–23 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2020–21 Nations League overall ranking,[15] with a slight modification: teams that were relegated in the previous season were ranked immediately below those who were promoted.[2] The seeding pots for the league phase were based on the access list ranking. The seeding pots, draw procedure, and fixture list procedures were confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Chișinău, Moldova, on 22 September 2021.[16]

More information * ...
More information Pot, Team ...
  1. The identity of the winners and losers of the League C relegation play-outs (involving Cyprus, Estonia, Kazakhstan and Moldova) was unknown at the time of the draw.

The draw for the league phase took place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on 16 December 2021, 18:00 CET.[17][18] The draw, originally planned to take place in Montreux, was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][20]

As the league phase would be played in June and September 2022, no winter venue restrictions were applied in the draw. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine) could not be drawn into the same group. Due to restrictions of excessive travel, any group could contain a maximum of one of the following pairs: Andorra and Kazakhstan, Malta and Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland and Kazakhstan, Gibraltar and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iceland, Israel and Iceland.[16]

League A

Group A1

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(R) Relegated

Group A2

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(R) Relegated

Group A3

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(R) Relegated

Group A4

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(R) Relegated

Nations League Finals

The four nations from Group A4 (Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Wales) bid to host the Nations League Finals.[21] As the nation that qualified for the finals, the Netherlands was granted hosting rights.[22] The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 25 January 2023, 11:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team.[23]

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
14 June – Rotterdam
 
 
 Netherlands2
 
18 June – Rotterdam
 
 Croatia (a.e.t.)4
 
 Croatia0 (4)
 
15 June – Enschede
 
 Spain (p)0 (5)
 
 Spain2
 
 
 Italy1
 
Third place play-off
 
 
18 June – Enschede
 
 
 Netherlands2
 
 
 Italy3

Semi-finals

More information Netherlands, 2–4 (a.e.t.) ...
Attendance: 39,359[24]

More information Spain, 2–1 ...

Third-place play-off

More information Netherlands, 2–3 ...
Attendance: 21,292[26]
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)

Final

Attendance: 41,110[27]

Top goalscorers

There were 140 goals scored in 52 matches, for an average of 2.69 goals per match.

More information Rank, Player ...

League B

Group B1

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Group B2

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. On 2 May 2022, UEFA announced that Russia were suspended and automatically relegated to League C due to their country's invasion of Ukraine.[7]

Group B3

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Montenegro 6, Romania 0.

Group B4

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Top goalscorers

There were 112 goals scored in 42 matches, for an average of 2.67 goals per match.

More information Rank, Player ...

League C

Group C1

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Group C2

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.

Group C3

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted

Group C4

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Ranking of fourth-placed teams

More information Pos, Grp ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Ranking criteria
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-outs

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Top goalscorers

There were 129 goals scored in 50 matches, for an average of 2.58 goals per match.

More information Rank, Player ...

League D

Group D1

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head points (3). Head-to-head goal difference: Latvia +1, Moldova −1.

Group D2

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
(P) Promoted

Top goalscorers

There were 44 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 2.44 goals per match.

More information Rank, Player ...

Overall ranking

The results of each team were used to calculate the overall ranking of the competition,[2][28] which was used for seeding in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage draw.[10]

More information League A, League B ...

Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs

Teams who were unsuccessful in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying group stage could still qualify for the final tournament via the play-offs. Leagues A, B, and C in the UEFA Nations League were each allocated one of the three remaining UEFA Euro 2024 places. Four teams who did not already qualify for the European Championship finals competed in the play-offs for each of those leagues, with the matches taking place in March 2024.[10]

The team selection process, using a set of criteria, determined the twelve teams that would compete in the play-offs based on the Nations League overall rankings.[29]

More information Rank, Team ...

Key

  • GW Group winner from Nations League A, B or C
  • BD Best group winner from Nations League D
  •   Team in bold advanced to play-offs
  •   Team qualified directly to final tournament
  •    UEFA Euro 2024 host, qualified automatically
  •    Banned from qualifying competition

Notes

  1. League B was composed of different sized groups as Russia, drawn into Group B2, were disqualified from the competition.
  2. Following the postponement of Path A of UEFA qualifying for the World Cup, UEFA reversed the Group B1 fixtures for matchdays 1 and 2. As part of the change, one fixture (Scotland v Ukraine) corresponding to Group B1's new matchday 1 was moved to 21 September 2022.[11]

References

  1. "UEFA Nations League receives associations' green light". UEFA. 27 March 2014.
  2. "Regulations of the UEFA Nations League, 2022/23". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 22 September 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. "France's Nations League final four hopes vanish with Croatia defeat". Reuters. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  4. "Croatia end France's Nations League hopes". BBC Sport. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  5. "2022/23 UEFA Nations League: All you need to know". UEFA.com. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  6. "UEFA Nations League 2024/25 – Draw Procedure" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  7. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship, 2022–24". Union of European Football Associations. 10 May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  8. "New match schedule for European Qualifiers Play-offs and several UEFA Nations League matches agreed". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  9. "2022/23 Nations League: all the fixtures". UEFA.com. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  10. "UEFA Nations League 2022–23: Fixture list per league" (PDF). UEFA. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  11. "How the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League will line up". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  12. "Overall ranking of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  13. "2022/23 UEFA Nations League – league phase draw procedure" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. September 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  14. "2022/23 UEFA Nations League: League phase draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  15. "2022/23 UEFA Nations League: League phase draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  16. "UEFA Women's EURO 2022 prize money doubled". UEFA. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  17. "UEFA Executive Committee agenda for December meeting". UEFA. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  18. "Four bidders declare interest in hosting 2022/23 UEFA Nations League finals". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  19. "Netherlands to host 2023 UEFA Nations League finals". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  20. "UEFA Nations League finals draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  21. "Netherlands vs. Croatia" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  22. "Spain vs. Italy" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  23. "Netherlands vs. Italy" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  24. "Croatia vs. Spain" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  25. "Overall ranking of the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  26. "Overall ranking of the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.

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