The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A was the top 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 A culminated with the Nations League Finals in June 2023 to determine the champions of the competition.
The Nations League Finals took place in June 2023 and was played in a knockout format, consisting of the semi-finals, third place play-off and final. The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw. The host country was selected among the four qualified teams by the UEFA Executive Committee, with the winners of the final crowned as the champions of the UEFA Nations League.
The four group winners were drawn into groups of five teams for UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying (in order to accommodate for the Nations League Finals).
In the 2022–23 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2020–21 Nations League overall ranking.[6] The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed on 22 September 2021,[7] and were based on the access list ranking.[4]
The draw for the league phase took place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 16 December 2021, 18:00 CET.[8][9] Each group contained one team from each pot.
The four nations from Group A4 (Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Wales) bid to host the Nations League Finals.[63] As the nation that qualified for the finals, the Netherlands was granted hosting rights.[64] The semi-final pairings were determined by means of an open draw on 25 January 2023, 11:00 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. For scheduling purposes, the host team was allocated to semi-final 1 as the administrative home team.[65]
The four best teams in League A according to the overall ranking that failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2024 through the qualifying group stage were set to compete against each other to win one extra qualification spot through the path A play-offs. As Poland and Wales were the only unqualified teams from League A, the first available slot for the teams participating in the Path A play-off was allocated to the best-ranked group winner of League D, Estonia, as they had not already qualified in the qualifying group stage. The remaining available slot was allocated to the best ranked un-qualified team from league B (excluding group winners of league B and teams previously chosen to participate in the path B play-offs), Finland.[71]
^The Football Association were ordered to play behind closed doors due to sanctions by UEFA. They were permitted to distribute tickets to under-14s, with one adult supervising every ten children.[43]