Scotland fixtures for Euro 2012 qualifiers announced: Lithuania trip is first challenge

Published on Friday 19 February 2010 12:02

SCOTLAND will begin their 2012 European Championship qualifying campaign with a Friday night away game against Lithuania on 3 September and will finish off with a trip to reigning champions Spain.

• Craig Levein of Scotland with fellow Group I coaches (left to right) Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Michal Bilek (Czech Republic) and Hans-Peter Zaugg, (Leichtenstein)

The Scottish Football Association confirmed the dates of all eight fixtures following a meeting in Madrid this morning attended by manager Craig Levein, SFA chief executive Gordon Smith, president George Peat and representatives from the other Group I nations.

"Although it's not quite the ideal scenario, I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out," Levein told BBC Scotland. "We've avoided playing in June, which has always been difficult for us."

Euro 2012 qualifying campaign: Full list of fixtures

Levein's team will play two Friday night games away from home, the opener against Lithuania and the 8 October fixture against the Czech Republic. The first match at Hampden will be against Liechtenstein, the lowest seeds in the group, on 7 September and all midweek qualifying matches for Euro 2012 are scheduled for Tuesday nights to allow players more recovery time when returning to their clubs.

The schedule can effectively be split into two, with the first four games taking place over a six-week period from 3 September to 12 October this year. After the home game against Spain on 12 October, Levein will have more than 11 months to wait before the next qualifying match at home to the Czechs on Saturday 3 September 2011. The final four matches are also crammed into a six-week window.

Levein will need six points in the first two games against the weakest sides in the group, away to Lithuania and at home to Lithuania, to give Scotland the best chance of qualifying. "We know from experience that Lithuania away is not an easy match," Levein added. "I'd perhaps have preferred that one to be at home, but it gives us a chance."

The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify automatically for the finals in Poland and Ukraine.