UEFA Nations League group draws revealed

As the calendar gets set to switch to 2022, UEFA has already launched the third edition of the Nations League competition with the draw held on December 16 at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland.

The big talking point from the draw was the heavyweight group assembled in League A, where Italy, England and Germany will meet with only the group winner guaranteed a spot in the Nations League semifinals. The last-place team in that group, which also includes Hungary, will be relegated to League B.

Nations League and World Cup champion France got a favorable draw against Denmark, Croatia and Austria. The French will have a strong chance to defend the title they won in October over Spain. Meanwhile, Belgium and the Netherlands were drawn in the same group, as were neighbors Spain and Portugal.

Other countries, including in the lower tiers of the Nations League, will be battling for promotion and to avoid relegation. Playoff spots in other major competitions are also expected to be on the line.

It is still to be determined what Euro 2024 playoff berths will be granted to top-performing countries from the Nations League. The Czech Republic and Austria made it into the FIFA World Cup playoffs by virtue of winning their respective groups in the 2020-21 Nations League.

UEFA Nations League 2022-23 Group Draw

The results of the final draw for each group in each league follow below:

UEFA Nations League A Draw

UEFA Nations League B Draw

UEFA Nations League C Draw

UEFA Nations League D Draw

When is UEFA Nations League played?

The Nations League was initially constructed to replace international friendlies with meaningful competition, and as such, it is contested during international breaks over the span of two calendar years and scheduled around other, more critical tournaments like Euros or World Cup qualification.

The first matchday of 2022-23 Nations League group stage play will take place in June 2022. Group stage play will conclude in September 2022, the tournament semis and final will be played in June 2023, and the League C relegation playoff will be played in March 2024.

• Group Matchdays 1 & 2: June 2-8, 2022 (all Leagues, A-D)
• Group Matchdays 3 & 4: June 8-14, 2022 (all Leagues, A-D)
• Group Matchdays 5 & 6: September 22-27, 2022 (all Leagues, A-D)
• Nations League Semis: June 14-15, 2023 (League A group winners only)
• Nations League Final & 3rd-place: June 18, 2023 (League A group winners only)
• Relegation Playoffs: March 21–23 & 24–26, 2024 (League C last-place teams only)

Now that the groups are built, the schedule will be set by UEFA with teams facing each other twice in group play, once at home and once away.

Nations League championship: This is decided among the four group winners in League A via a knockout bracket which will crown the 2022-2023 champion. The four nations play a single-elimination semifinal in June 2023 followed by a final (for the semifinal winners) or a third-place match (for the semifinal losers) a few days later.

Promotion & Relegation: The group winners from Leagues B, C and D are automatically promoted to the leagues above them. They take the place of the teams that are relegated down to a lower tier.

Nations that finish bottom of their groups in Leagues A and B are relegated to the tier below. The four last-place teams in League C are involved in a relegation playoff which sends only two of the teams down to League D. The last-place teams in League D obviously remain in that tier for the following edition. 

How the UEFA Nations League draw worked

The UEFA Nations League is separated into four Leagues labeled A, B, C, and D, with "A" featuring the best teams in Europe and "D" featuring the smaller countries. The 55 nations were grouped based on their performance in the last edition of the Nations League, taking into account promotion and relegation between each of the four tiers.

For Leagues A, B, and C, the teams were broken out into four pots of four teams each based on the performance ranking, and they were drawn into groups just like at the World Cup or other top continental competitions.

For League D, the draw was similar, but since there were only seven participating countries, they were drawn into one group made up of four nations and one group of three.

The Kazakhstan vs. Moldova and Cyprus vs. Estonia relegation playoffs from the previous edition of the Nations League have yet to be played and are scheduled for March 2022. The winner of each will participate in League C and the loser will drop into League D for 2022-23.

Nations League A Draw Pots

Nations League B Draw Pots

Note: Ukraine and Russia cannot be drawn in the same group as part of a "prohibited team clash".

Nations League C Draw Pots

Note: The winners of the Kazakhstan vs. Moldova and Cyprus vs. Estonia relegation playoffs in March 2022 will be included in League C.

Nations League D Draw Pots

Note: The losers of the Kazakhstan vs. Moldova and Cyprus vs. Estonia relegation playoffs in March 2022 will be included in League D. Two of the three teams in Pot 2 will fall in group D1.