UEFA Nations League 2022/23 draw as it happened: England face Italy, Germany and Hungary
The UEFA Nations League 2022/23 draw has been made with England facing two familiar foes
The draw kicks off at 5pm GMT and you probably have some questions.
Don't worry - we've answered the most popular ones already.
Need a refresher on a brief history of the Nations League? Here's your 60-second guide suitable for pasting into a WhatsApp group...
The inaugural Nations League was born in 2018/19, where teams were split into groups of three and separated by league. England – you may remember – were in a group with Croatia and Spain and managed to get to the final four, along with Switzerland, Netherlands and Portugal. The latter nation won the tournament on home soil. Ahh, the heady days of 2019, eh?
The 2020/21 edition was recently won by France, as they beat Spain in the final. This was the one where England played against Iceland, Belgium and Denmark in their group. UEFA didn't actually relegate anyone as promised, since they restructured all the groups accordingly.
This time, we'll see the third-ever Nations League and it's starting to get a little more prestigious. It's an actual trophy and you get a nice patch on your shirt for winning. And anyway, it'll be a good barometer for who the top sides are ahead of next year's World Cup and another Euros in 2024.
So... what's the point in the Nations League?
No, it's not a silly question. We have enough football on as it is – and with managers and players complaining about the calendar being stacked, why did UEFA add in another competition? Especially one so complicated?
The Nations League was actually brought in to replace friendlies. Friendlies are, by and large, pointless. There's no competitive element to them whatsoever.
Additionally, a player has to represent their country in a competitive fixture in order to be locked in to play for that nation: Diego Costa, for example, played for Brazil twice but not competitively before Spain pounced for him. At least now, if England were to call up Arsenal star Folarin Balogun for a couple of Nations League fixtures, they wouldn't have to worry about Nigeria or the United States poaching the 19-year-old, despite him spending his footballing education in our country.
Not only do people want to watch competitive fixtures though, they want to see countries playing other countries of a similar level. Qualifiers don't have much of that, since big sides are separated. Equally, the likes of Lichtenstein and San Marino are (hopefully) not going to get battered a dozen times.
Here's how the pots work
That's League A, right there. Scroll down if you need explaining on what the leagues are again.
So there will be four groups of four drawn: one from each pot. That means England will face:
- One of France, Spain, Italy or Belgium
- One of Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark or Germany
- And one of Wales, Austria, Czech Republic or Hungary
Who's in what League and what pot?
It's a nice trophy...
*chef's kiss*
Let's remind ourselves of 2021's edition...
It was world champions France that beat Spain in the final in the autumn, thanks to Kylian Mbappe with one of the strangest international goals in recent times.
No, he's not offside – and we explained why here.
So how well do you know the UEFA nations?
55 of them to guess, eight minutes on the clock.
We're looking for any member state that's going to be in the UEFA Nations League draw this evening – so that rules out the likes of Vatican City and Calalonia, along with other countries that don't have official football teams in the UEFA confederation.
Easy peasy, right?
T-minus 20 minutes
We'll get to the important stuff soon.
Who would you like England to face?
And... we're live!
No sound though on Sky... you're on mute, Pedro. Come on, man.
UEFA are just fixing the technical issues. We're off to a great start.
Andrey Arshavin has just arrived at the scene with a new microphone and a reset button (we assume).
We'll get ready to go again shortly.
Aaaaaaand we're back.
We're just rolling through the #EqualGame awards, which UEFA hand out for inclusivity and diversity.
We're just looking back on the last Nations League - which gives us a great chance to relive this...
🏆 Karim @Benzema 🇫🇷 remporte le But du tournoi! 🔥👏👏C'est vous qui avez élu cette pépite inscrite en finale de la #NationsLeague 💪 @equipedefrance pic.twitter.com/eTTGYlqtxnOctober 13, 2021
Our former pros are here to do the draws. It's the legendary midfielders Robert Pires and Gaizka Mendieta.
Zidane or Mbappe?
Pires is very blunt. "Zidane", he says without so much as a hesitation.
Deputy General Secretary of UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti has arrived, the man with the velvet voice to assist with the draw.
Good to see he kept his job after those gremlins during the Champions League fiasco in the week. Probably shifted the blame onto Arshavin, didn't he?
Mendieta and Pires have aged like fine Malbecs.
The draw begins with League D
Kazakhstan or Moldova in D1; Cyprus or Estonia in D2.
Malta in D2; Liechtenstein in D1.
So... D1:
C1
C2
C3
C4
C1
C2
C3
C4
The complete C1 group:
C2
C3
C4
Bulgaria
North Macedonia
Georgia
Gibraltar
Not a bad draw for Northern Ireland – now we're looking towards League B...
We're flying through.
B1
B2
B3
B4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B1
B2
B3
B4
Scotland face Republic of Ireland! Probably the most exciting clash we've seen elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Sweden face Norway. There are some derbies in this Nations League.
Now onto the big boys – it's League A
A1
A2
A3
A4
A1
A2
A3
A4
A1
A2
A3
A4
A1
A2
A3
A4
So, England get Germany, Italy and Hungary in their next Nations League group. Group of Death? Well, there aren't many easy ones, are there?
Wales have got Netherlands, Poland and Belgium, which will be tasty - elsewhere, Spain play neighbours Portugal and France are up against Croatia, once more.
England's record vs...
At least we can't lose on pennos to the Germans again...
His smile could light up the darkest of rooms...
Let's confirm these groups again...
C4
That just about wraps it up for now.
