Luxembourg 0-5 Scotland
FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifiers
Tuesday, 3rd March 2026
Stade Émile Mayrisch, Esch-sur-Alzette

Scorers

Luxembourg 0

Scotland 5 (Caroline Weir 9’ 37’ 62’, Jenna Clark 27’, Kathleen McGovern 88’)   

Team News

Melissa Andreatta made four changes to the team that started December’s friendly match against China in Spain. Sandy MacIver returned in goals, with Emma Lawton, Miri Taylor and Maria McAneny joining her in the starting eleven. They replaced Eartha Cumings, Georgia Brown, Kirsty Howat and Kirsty MacLean, who misses out from the squad entirely due to injury.

Lining up alongside Erin Cuthbert in midfield on Tuesday night, Celtic’s Maria McAneny made her first Scotland start on her 3rd cap. Caroline Weir linked up with Kirsty Hanson up front, marking her first cap since officially being made Scotland captain.

As It Happened

Scotland and Melissa Andreatta would have been hoping for a positive start against the group’s bottom seeds, and they began strongly with Jenna Clark heading over the bar from an Erin Cuthbert corner within the first two minutes.

Emma Lawton tested Lucie Schlime moments later when she tried her luck from long range, with the goalkeeper able to hold onto her effort with ease.

Scotland didn’t have to wait too long before celebrating the opening goal, with Caroline Weir scoring in the 9th minute. Cuthbert’s corner wreaked havoc in the Luxembourg penalty box with the ball falling for Weir who fired at goal, first on her right which was blocked and then into the net on the second attempt as she lashed home on her left foot.

Miri Taylor was next to test the goalkeeper when she fired towards goal following fantastic pressing from the Scotland frontline, but her effort was again comfortably held by Schlime in between the sticks.

Scotland’s search for a second was again thwarted by Schlime who was in inspired from in the early exchanges. Hanson’s slide rule pass played Lawton through one on one with the goalkeeper who came sprinting off her line to get in the way of the full back’s effort to keep the deficit to one.

In the 25th minute, Jenna Clark’s long ball allowed Lawton in behind the hosts’ defence before playing across goal for Hanson to tap home, though the forward was slightly ahead of Lawton as she played the cross, with the goal ruled out for offside as a result.

Persistence paid dividends for Scotland as they got the second goal just 2 minutes later. A trademark Cuthbert set piece to the back post was met by Clark, who headed across goal past the dive of Schlime to give the Scots a two-goal cushion just shy of the half hour.

Scotland had the right to feel aggrieved for not having the opportunity to add a third of the evening from 12 yards, when a late challenge from Amal Cherkane on Freya Gregory was waved away by referee Kristina Georgieva.

Gregory made a quick recovery from that challenge, and she teed up Taylor for a left footed effort that looked certain to nestle in the bottom left corner before Schlime managed to tip the ball wide for a Scotland corner.

Cuthbert’s bustling run soon after was abruptly halted by Cherkane again as she fouled the Chelsea midfielder, with Scotland being awarded a free kick in a promising position.

Skipper Caroline Weir stepped up, curling the ball around the Luxembourg wall and into the bottom left-hand corner, leaving Schlime routed to the spot as Scotland added goal number three on of the evening on 37 minutes.  

Scotland could have added a fourth before half time when Gregory’s ball was dropped by Schlime at the feet of Weir. Weir laid the ball to Hanson, but the striker’s effort was blocked on the line by the Luxembourg defender and onto the woodwork, meaning it would be a three-goal lead at half time for the Scots.

The second half started slower than the first though Scotland continued to create chances. Weir’s freekick found its way to Gregory at the back post who sliced wide of target from around 12 yards out on 57 minutes.

Seconds later, from a throw in on the right side, the Scots had another substantial case for a penalty dismissed when Hanson used her strength to breeze past Andreia Machado who, in her attempts for redemption, bundled the striker to the ground though the referee did not feel the challenge warranted a spot kick.

Caroline Weir then marked her first game as official Scotland captain by completing her hattrick in the 62nd minute. A lofted ball into the penalty area dropped for Cuthbert who drove the ball on the half volley, with Weir managing to divert home from close range to make it 4-0 to Melissa Andreatta’s side.  

Sandy MacIver had little to do all evening but when called upon in the 71st minute, made a sharp stop from Hannah Dietrich’s effort, in what turned out to be the hosts’ only shot on target all evening.

Melissa Andreatta made a triple change heading into the last fifteen minutes, with Lauren Davidson, Kirsty Howat and Charlotte Newsham coming on to replace Emma Lawton, Caroline Weir and Freya Gregory.

Two of those changes nearly combined for Scotland’s fifth as Howat headed narrowly wide from Davidson’s cross after excellent running down the right-hand side from the Brann forward.

Scotland did score their fifth goal of the evening on 87 minutes with two substitutes again combining - this time Kathleen McGovern latched onto a Charlotte Newsham lofted pass, taking the ball down beautifully, before finishing past Schlime with the outside of her right foot.

Four minutes of time were added on where Scotland had a third call for a penalty waved away by the match referee, before the final whistle was sounded, with Melissa Andreatta’s Scotland off to the perfect start in FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifying.

Next Up

SWNT are back in action on Saturday afternoon as they welcome the same opponents to Hampden Park in their first home FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

Teams

Scotland: MacIver, Docherty, Clark, Gregory (Newsham 74’), Taylor, Weir (Howat 74’), Hanson (McGovern 64’), McLauchlan, McAneny, Cuthbert (McAulay 89’), Lawton (Davidson 74’)

Unused Substitutes: Gibson, Cumings, McLeary, Howard, Eddie, Brown, Rodgers

Luxembourg: Schlime, Machado, Cherkane, Kremer, Barbosa (Konsbruck 72’), Kocan (Miny 62’), Dos Santos, Miller, Schmit (Estevez 83’), Ca. Jorge (Kirps 83’), Dietrich (Lavinas 72’)

Unused Substitutes: Jung, Goetz, Freymann, Ch. Jorge, Mateus, Leite