Scotland are set to face Croatia, Portugal and Poland after being drawn into Group A1 of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.

Steve Clarke's side, who won promotion to League A after topping their group in 2022, learned their fate at the draw in Paris on Thursday.

UEFA have expanded the Nations League this year with a new knockout round to be played in March 2025 before the finals are played in June.

This year the League A group winners and runners-up will participate in home-and-away quarter-finals, with the winners of these ties qualifying for the final tournament.

As Scotland are in League A for the first time, they will have an opportunity to qualify for the finals for the first time ever should they finish in the top two of their group this year.

The fourth-placed teams in Leagues A will still be automatically relegated to League B, but now the third-placed team in League A will enter into a two-legged home-and-away promotion/relegation play-off against a second-placed team from League B.

Previous Meetings

Scotland's most recent meeting with Croatia came at EURO 2021, with Clarke's side suffering a 3-1 defeat. 

Prior to that meeting, Scotland had enjoyed back to back victories over Croatia in FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2013. Robert Snodgrass scored the winner in a 1-0 victory in Zagreb and Snodgrass got on the scoresheet again - alongside Steven Naismith - in a 2-0 victory at Hampden Park later that year. 

Portugal, on the other hand, have not played against Scotland in a competitive match in over 30 years, though they did get the better of Scotland in a friendly in 2018.

Scotland's biggest victory over Portugal came in 1980, when Kenny Dalglish, Andy Gray, Steve Archibald and Archie Gemmill were all on target in a 4-1 victory.

Scotland have more recent memories of Poland, having faced them in a friendly in March 2022. 

Scotland also faced Poland twice in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2016, with both matches ending in 2-2 draws.

Scotland Men's A Head Coach Steve Clarke: "It's our first time in League A so it was always going to be a difficult draw.

"We've got three fantastic opponents and hopefully six very good matches.

"I'm always a great believer, if you want to improve you have to play against the best teams.

"When you've in football as long as I have, you don't make too many predictions.

"I predict tough matches but hopefully they will be tough matches for our opponents as well."

2024-25 UEFA Nations League Fixtures

Home
Scotland v Poland
Thursday, 5 September 2024 (kick-off 7.45pm)
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Scotland v Portugal
Tuesday, 15 October 2024 (kick-off 7.45pm)
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Scotland v Croatia
Friday, 15 November 2024 (kick-off 7.45pm)
Hampden Park, Glasgow

Away
Portugal v Scotland
Sunday, 8 September 2024 (kick-off 7.45pm)
Venue TBC

Croatia v Scotland
Saturday, 12 October 2024 (kick-off 5pm)
Venue TBC

Poland v Scotland
Monday, 18 November 2024 (kick-off 7.45pm)
Venue TBC

2024-25 UEFA Nations League A1

Croatia 
Portugal 
Poland 
Scotland