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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

Scotland and the Euro 2024 best and worst case scenarios as dream qualifying group revealed

It's all about the Euros for Scotland now as Steve Clarke's team get ready for their first crack at the whip in March.

The September internationals saw the Scots dispel some demons from the summer and seven points from three games against Ukraine and Ireland fired us into League A of the Nations League. That gives us the guaranteed fall-back of a Euro 2024 playoff should we need it, but perhaps even more significantly, it sends us into pot two - increasing our chances of a favourable draw in the qualifying stage itself.

It means we're guaranteed to avoid the likes of England and France while hosts Germany have a bye straight through to the group stage. Whoever we get, it won't be easy and there will be ups and downs along the way - but with the top two in any group going straight through without the need for a playoff, we've given ourselves our best chance in years at automatic qualification.

Scotland players celebrate in Warsaw (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

But just how could it end up looking? Record Sport have taken a look at the FIFA rankings and the pot breakdowns ahead of next month's draw to come up with the best and worst case scenarios for the Scots.

Best case scenario

Hungary, SCOTLAND, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, San Marino

The direct impact of the Nations League placings on the pots mean there are more than a few outliers. Hungary landing in Pot One despite being ranked 37th in the world while two of the top five join Scotland in Pot Two might be the most jarring of the lot, but hell, it could work to our advantage.

The Hungarians made a splash at the World Cup while they took a creditable ten points from Italy, Germany and England to send the Auld Enemy hurtling down into League B (couldn't be us)! But they're ranked just eight places above Scotland and Clarke's side would fancy their chances of taking them all the way for top spot if we end up paired together in the group.

Elsewhere, Armenia squeak into Pot Three despite being relegated to League C by Ireland and Scotland would have nothing to fear there having just taken six relatively comfortable points from them - even if the 4-1 win in Yerevan wasn't quite as convincing as the scoreline suggests.

Azerbaijan can't be drawn against Armenia so if we're looking at the best case possible then the Faroe Islands, one place above them, can be swapped in. Gibraltar's steady rise has taken a recent tanking and San Marino are...well, San Marino. Let's be honest, anything less than qualification from this group would be a bit of a riddy.

Worst case scenario

Spain, SCOTLAND, Sweden, Turkey, Slovakia

On the other hand...

Pot Two of course doesn't guarantee an easy group. While there are some favourable draws, the likelihood is Scotland will be at best second favourites to win whatever group we end up in. Spain are the highest ranked as things stand but that pot also features European champions Italy, world No.2s Belgium, as well as the Netherlands, Portugal and Croatia. Yeah, not an easy draw among that lot.

Pot Three looks much more enticing and another pair of meetings with Ireland or Ukraine are a possibility. The good thing is we can't draw Israel; they're alongside us in Pot Two.

But landing Sweden ahead of the likes of Armenia, Romania or Albania would be a major blow - that lot know how to qualify for a major tournament. Further down, Turkey are no great shakes but are probably the worst we could hope for from Pot Four while Slovakia and Northern Ireland are among the possibilities from the fifth grouping.

There are only three teams in Pot Six - Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino - and drawing any of them will be much of a muchness. Not that Lichtenstein haven't made us sweat at Hampden before though.

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