The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League C is the third 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.
League C consists of 16 UEFA members ranked from 33–48 in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list, to be split into four groups of four. Each team will play 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 will be promoted to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League B, and the fourth-placed team of each group will advance to the relegation play-outs.[2]
As League C has four groups while League D has only two, the two League C teams that are to be relegated to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League D will be determined by play-outs in March 2024. Based on the Nations League overall ranking, the best-ranked team will face the fourth-ranked team, and the second-ranked team will face the third-ranked team. Two ties will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home (the higher-ranked team will host the second leg). The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs will remain in League C, while the loser will be relegated to League D. If the aggregate score is level, extra time will be played (the away goals rule is not applied). If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winner.[2]
Teams[]
Team changes[]
The following are the team changes of League C from the 2020–21 season:
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]
^ abThe identity of the play-out winners was not known at the time of the draw.
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. Due to restrictions of excessive travel, any group could contain a maximum of one of the following pairs: Northern Ireland and Kazakhstan, Gibraltar and Azerbaijan.
Groups[]
The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 17 December 2021, the day following the draw.[7][8]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
The fourth-placed teams of League C will participate in the relegation play-outs to determine the two teams which will be relegated. The relegation play-outs are scheduled on the same dates as the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs. If at least one of the teams due to participate in the relegation play-outs also qualifies for the World Cup qualifying play-offs, the relegation play-outs will be cancelled, and the teams in League C ranked 47th and 48th in the Nations League overall ranking will be automatically relegated.[2]
The play-out ties are as follows, with the higher-ranked teams hosting the second leg:[2]
Team ranked first vs. team ranked fourth
Team ranked second vs. team ranked third
Times are CET (UTC+1), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
First match(es) will be played on 2 June 2022. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: Ranking criteria
Notes[]
^ abcdefDue to the country's involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarus are required to play their home matches at neutral venues behind closed doors until further notice.[9]
