2022–23 UEFA Nations League B explained
The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B was the second division of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the third season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.
Format
League B consisted of 16 UEFA members ranked from 17–32 in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list, split into four groups of four. Each team played six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format in June (quadruple matchdays) and September 2022 (double matchdays).[1] The winners of each group were promoted to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A, and the fourth-placed team of each group were relegated to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League C.[2]
Teams
Team changes
The following were the team changes in League B from the 2020–21 season:
Seeding
In the 2022–23 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2020–21 Nations League overall ranking.[3] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed on 22 September 2021,[4] and were based on the access list ranking.[2]
The draw for the league phase took place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 16 December 2021, 18:00 CET.[5] [6] Each group contained one team from each pot. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine) could not be drawn in the same group. Due to restrictions of excessive travel, Armenia, Israel and Iceland could not all be in the same group.
Groups
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 17 December 2021, the day following the draw.[7] [8] The fixture list for Group 1 was amended due to the postponement of Path A of UEFA qualifying for the World Cup.[9]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group 1
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Group 2
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Group 3
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Group 4
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Overall ranking
The 16 League B teams were ranked 17th to 32nd overall in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:[2] [10] [11]
- The teams finishing first in the groups were ranked 17th to 20th according to the results of the league phase.
- The teams finishing second in the groups were ranked 21st to 24th according to the results of the league phase
- The teams finishing third in the groups were ranked 25th to 28th according to the results of the league phase.
- The teams finishing fourth in Groups 1, 3, and 4 were ranked 29th to 31st according to the results of the league phase.
- Russia, disqualifed from the competition and automatically ranked fourth in their group, was ranked 32nd. Because the members of group 2 played two fewer matches as a result, teams finishing first, second, and third in groups 1, 3, and 4 had their match results vs. the fourth place team in their groups discarded for the ranking.
Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs
The four best teams in League B according to the overall ranking that did not qualify for UEFA Euro 2024 through the qualifying group stage were set to compete in the play-offs, with the winners qualifying for the final tournament.[12] As the Path A play-offs had a vacant spot, the next-best ranked un-qualified team in League B, Iceland, qualified for the play-offs as well.Key
- GW Group winner from Nations League B
- Team qualified directly to final tournament
- Team in bold advanced to play-offs
- Banned from qualifying competition
Notes and References
- News: 2022/23 UEFA Nations League: All you need to know . UEFA.com . 16 December 2021 . 16 December 2021.
- Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Nations League, 2022/23 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . PDF . 1 October 2021 . 16 December 2021.
- Web site: Overall ranking of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 December 2021.
- Web site: 2022/23 UEFA Nations League – league phase draw procedure . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . September 2021 . 16 December 2021.
- Web site: 2022/23 UEFA Nations League: League phase draw . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 December 2021.
- News: 2022/23 UEFA Nations League: League phase draw . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 December 2021 . 16 December 2021.
- Web site: 2022/23 Nations League: all the fixtures . UEFA.com . 17 December 2021 . 17 December 2021.
- Web site: UEFA Nations League 2022–23: Fixture list per league . UEFA . 17 December 2021 . 17 December 2021.
- News: 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 . 15 April 2022.
- UEFA Executive Committee decisions on the impact and consequences resulting from the ongoing suspension of Russian representative teams and clubs in UEFA competitions and other matters . 21/2022 . UEFA Circular Letter . . 2 May 2022 . 28 September 2022.
- Web site: Overall ranking of the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 27 September 2022 . 28 September 2022.
- Web site: Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship, 2022–24 . Union of European Football Associations . 10 May 2022 . 16 May 2022 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220516115052/https://documents.uefa.com/api/khub/maps/5tYSJw48iUOPsbIGOxQA4w/attachments/_dSxuIv48n81YqITx97r~g/content?Ft-Calling-App=ft%2Fturnkey-portal&Ft-Calling-App-Version=3.11.26&filename=20220601_Regulations_EURO_2024_en.pdf . 16 May 2022.
