Scotland will take on Albania and Israel in the inaugural UEFA Nations League.
Top seeds Scotland were placed alongside the two nations in Group C1, the only three team group in League C, at the draw in Lausanne, Switzerland this morning.
Scotland enjoy a 100% record against Israel, having played on three occasions in the 1980s. The two sides last met in 1986, when a solitary Paul McStay goal was enough to secure the victory for Scotland.
Albania will see Scotland take a trip into unknown territory, the two sides never having met before. They are managed by Italian legendary defender Christian Panucci, who scored the injury-time goal at Hampden that ended Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.
Having been drawn in Group C1, which features only three teams, Scotland are now obliged to arrange Challenge Matches for the two international match dates this autumn that are now free.
Scotland centre half Christophe Berra said: “It’s a good draw for us and I am sure the players will be looking forward to getting back into competitive action.
“We haven’t played Albania before and a lot of the squad won’t even have been born when we last played Israel, so it provides new competition for us all.
“The Nations League is obviously a new competition but it is an interesting prospect, not least of which because it provides a route to Euro 2020.
“The draw gives us a great chance of guaranteeing ourselves a play-off place before the Euro qualifiers even begin next year, so we’re going to give it our all and hopefully give the fans a lot to cheer about.”
The full fixture list is as follows (all kick-off times in UK time):
MD1: No competitive fixture – friendly to be arranged.
MD2: Scotland v Albania – Monday, 10 September 2018, 7.45pm.
MD3: Israel v Scotland – Thursday, 11 October, 7.45pm.
MD4: No competitive fixture – friendly to be arranged.
MD5: Albania v Scotland – Saturday, 17 November, 7.45pm.
MD6: Scotland v Israel – Tuesday, 20 November, 7.45pm.