What you need to understand about Nations League

[Maniés]

The third edition of the UEFA Nations League kicked off this June, and the finals are scheduled for the same month a year later.

The competition consists of 3 leagues of 16 teams each and a 4th league of 7 teams, the make-up decided by promotions and relegations from that second running. The groups are set by a draw, in this year it was drawn in Nyon on 16 December. 

This years groups are: 

League A

Group A1: France, Denmark, Croatia, Austria
Group A2: Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czechia
Group A3: Italy, Germany, England, Hungary
Group A4: Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Wales

League B

Group B1: Ukraine, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Armenia
Group B2: Iceland, Russia*, Israel, Albania
Group B3: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Romania, Montenegro
Group B4: Sweden, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia

League C

Group C1: Türkiye, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Faroe Islands
Group C2: Northern Ireland, Greece, Kosovo, Cyprus
Group C3: Slovakia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan
Group C4: Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Georgia, Gibraltar

League D

Group D1: Liechtenstein, Moldova, Andorra, Latvia
Group D2: Malta, Estonia, San Marino 

The teams play all their group opponents home and away in June and September 2022 and the 4 group winners in League A advance to the knockout finals in June 2023. The group winners in the other three leagues will all be promoted for the 2024/25 edition. The teams finishing 4th in the groups in Leagues A and B will be relegated. The teams finishing fourth in the League C groups will enter the play-outs in March 2024, with the 2 teams defeated in those ties moving to League D.