England to face Euro final rivals Italy in tough UEFA Nations League draw
They'll also play Germany and Hungary in next year's competition
Last updated 17th Dec 2021
England have been drawn against Euro rivals Italy in the UEFA Nations League 2022/2023, with Germany and Hungary also in the Three Lions' group.
The competition gives England a chance for a rematch, after Italy beat them on penalties at Wembley to win the Euro 2020 final in June 2021.
Gareth Southgate's side are in Group A3, which they must win in order to progress to the finals of the UEFA Nations League in June 2023.
Each team in the competition will first play four qualifying group games from 2 to 14 June, and two from 22 to 27 September 2022.
However, sanctions placed on the FA over crowd trouble at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley means the Three Lions' first home game in the competition will be played behind closed doors.
"We have obviously played all these teams in the last 12 months and the only things are Germany have had a change of coach in that time, so I think they have evolved the way they have played since then", England manager Gareth Southgate said.
“And Italy have been a little bit different. It will be interesting to see. They have obviously missed Leonardo Spinazzola since the middle of the EUROS and they have been without Giorgio Chiellini since the EUROS so it will be interesting to see how they have evolved, and they have those important World Cup play-off games in March as well.
“And with Hungary we saw particularly in the game at Wembley which finished 1-1 that was more resembling of how Hungary have been over the last couple of years, having been promoted twice from the Nations League, so they have had a successful sequence of results over a long period of time.”
The Nations League fixtures will provide a good warm up for England at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which will take place in December next year.