The 2022-23 UEFA Nations League is about to begin. This year’s UEFA Nations League matches will be extra exciting, especially the A-Level, where the giants’ duels are frequently staged, definitely worth waiting for!
What is the UEFA Nations League?
The UEFA Nations League is a tournament organized by the European Football Association (UEFA), generally played across the year and spread over the annual national team match days. Created in 2018, the UEFA Nations League is held every two years (according to the season) and has 55 members under the UEFA umbrella, divided into four levels based on ranking factors.
If you want to get prediction correctly, you can check out more information of football games, players, teams and news on ClevPicks: Reliable football betting prediction using artificial intelligence.
There are four levels, A-D, which start with a group stage, while the four top groups of the A level will compete in semi-finals and finals for the final title. The team that wins the championship also has the considerable honor of being independent of the World Cup qualifiers, but the two top-ranked teams, in World Cup years, can also participate in the play-offs in the European zone. The format of this tournament is similar to the national leagues, except that the participants become national teams.
History of the UEFA Nations League
The first UEFA Nations League
On January 24, 2018, at 19:00 (12:00 local time in Switzerland), the first UEFA Nations League group stage draw was held in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The 55 UEFA member countries are divided into four levels according to their rankings: A, B, C, and D. The A and B levels have 12 teams, the C level has 15 teams and the D level has 16 teams. Each league is divided into 4 groups and seeded according to the UEFA national team ranking.
The winning teams of the 4 groups of A level will participate in the finals (semi-finals, third and fourth place finals, and finals) in June of the following year to determine the champion, while the bottom teams of the 4 groups will be relegated to the B level. In turn, the top teams of the 4 groups in the B-League will advance to the A-League, and so on.
On June 10, 2019, the 1st UEFA Nations League final was held at the Porto Giron Stadium, and Portugal won the championship with a 1:0 victory over the Netherlands.
The Second UEFA Nations League
The draw for the second UEFA Nations League was held in Amsterdam in March 2020, with six rounds of group matches from September to November. Due to the expansion of places, Germany, Iceland, Poland, and Croatia remain in the A-League.
The four Group 1 teams from the A-League play in the final round in June 2021, with the venue for the final round selected from these four countries or regions. the A, B, and C-Leagues are all divided into four groups of four teams each, while the D-League is divided into one group of four teams and one group of three teams.
The final was played at the San Siro stadium in Milan and France won the championship.
Introduction of the 3rd UEFA Nations League
For the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League, the group stage runs from June 1 to September 27 local time, and the final stage is from June 14-18 next year.
The strongest teams and fans are most concerned about the A level, there are 4 groups with 4 teams in each group, and the specific groupings are as follows.
A1: France, Denmark, Croatia, Austria
A2: Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic
A3: Italy, Germany, England, Hungary
A4: Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Wales
Only the first place in each group will advance to the final round, while the last place in each group will be relegated to the B-League.
1. The focal point of the first group is undoubtedly the defending champion France versus Croatia, which is a repeat of the World Cup final four years ago when the Gallic Rooster won the title. In addition, it is interesting to note that France and Denmark were in the same group in the last World Cup, the current UEFA Nations League, and this year’s World Cup, so it’s really a good match.
2. For the second group, Spain and Portugal will compete for the only ticket to the line. Iberian derby, the last two meetings are in friendly matches, the score is 0-0, the last official match met, is the 2018 World Cup 3-3
3. In the third group, there are three big giants and only 1 team will make it out. Italy is not in the World Cup final round, but to repeat the final of last year’s Euro with England, while England and Germany, Germany and Italy is the oldest rivalry in European football, every time they meet is sparkling.
4. The fourth group is a collection of frontrunners. Belgium has Chelsea’s Lukaku, the Netherlands has Barcelona’s Depay, Poland naturally has Lewin, and Wales’ Bale, although he has had a bad time at Real Madrid, has been a great success in the international arena, so it is also worth watching.
League 1
