Scotland will play the opening match of UEFA EURO 2024 after being drawn to face hosts Germany at this evening’s draw in Hamburg.

The draw, conducted by a number of European football legends including Gianluigi Buffon, Wesley Sneijder and Brian Laudrup, placed Scotland in group A, meaning they will play the showpiece opener against the four-time World Champions in Munich on 14 June, before taking on fellow Pot A teams Switzerland in Cologne on 19 June and Hungary in Stuttgart on 23 June.

 

Scotland have played Germany 17 times since they first met nearly a century ago in 1929, Scotland winning four times, drawing five and being on the wrong end of the scoreline on eight occasions. The two sides last met in qualification for EURO 2016, a 3-2 loss at Hampden Park.

When Scotland last played Hungary they walked away from Budapest with a 1-0 victory thanks to Matt Phillips’ first goal for Scotland. The two nations have faced each other on nine occasions in the past, with Hungary holding the edge with four wins to Scotland’s three, albeit the two nations have never faced each other in a competitive fixture.

The last time Scotland faced Switzerland in a competitive match was also at the EUROs in 1996, when a wonder goal from Ally McCoist gave Scotland a 1-0 victory in the final group stage match. Scotland enjoy a winning record against the Swiss, with eight victories, five losses and three draws since they first met in 1931.

 

Scotland Head Coach Steve Clarke: “My first thought is that it is nice to have clarity. We know who you’re going to face, we know the opposition and now we can start preparing.

“It will be nice to open the tournament, nice to get the first game and hopefully it will be a good match.

“We’ve got to make sure it’s not about the occasion, that it’s about the match. We look forward to it, its an exciting draw, but I don’t think it really mattered who we were going to get, it was always going to be exciting for us.

We’ve also been drawn against two good teams. We will be competitive in the matches, I’m sure they will be competitive too. It’s a good group – I think an evenly balanced group – and we look forward to it.

“The aim is to be competitive in every match. that’s always the aim. Respect your opponent and be competitive.”