What channel is Scotland v Poland on? Match info, kick-off time, TV details, team news

Scotland host Poland at Hampden Park this evening in a very different game than they were preparing for a couple of months ago.

Steve Clarke’s men were due to face Ukraine in their crucial World Cup play-off for a chance to play the winners of Austria and Wales for a place at the tournament in Qatar.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw the game postponed until an undetermined date in June.

With Poland having been due to play Russia in their own World Cup play-off, the sides, with a free date, organised a friendly in Mount Florida with some proceeds of ticket money going to Unicef.

Scotland face Poland in a friendly at Hampen Park. Picture: SNS

Here’s the key match info you’ll need to tune in…

Match details

Who: Scotland v Poland

What: International friendly

When: Thursday, March 24. Kick-off 7.45pm

Where: Hampden Park, Glasgow.

How to watch

The match is being shown live on Sky Sports Football with coverage starting at 7pm. BBC Scotland has a highlights show with analysis at 10.30pm until 11.10pm.

Team news

Steve Clarke will be without captain Andy Robertson and one of his key talisman in Lyndon Dykes. He also confirmed there wouldn’t be a start for Aaron Hickey after the player felt unwell on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Poland may be without Robert Lewandowski. Manager Czeslaw Michniewicz was coy on whether the star striker would appear.

"We do consider the fans’ wishes and they will see Robert Lewandowski," he said. "But will they see him on the pitch or on the bench? That's a different story."

The Poland lowdown

Michniewicz has yet to manage Poland after replacing Paulo Sousa in January after the Portuguese manager moved to Brazil to manage. The team finished second in qualifying behind England.

Unlike Scotland, they will play their World Cup play-off final next week.

One of the players called up is very familiar to John McGinn. Aston Villa team-mate Matty Cash could win his third cap after gaining a Polish passport which he qualifies for through his mother.

Previous meeting

The last fixture was a Euro 2016 qualifier at Hampden Park which finished 2-2. However, it was a massive two points dropped for Scotland who were in the hunt for qualification. Robert Lewandowski scored an injury-time equaliser which put a huge dent in Scotland’s ambitions.

What Steve Clarke said

The Scotland boss spoke candidly about the prospect of the Ukraine World Cup play-off going ahead in June.

"If you look at it and you’re honest about the situation now then, yes, it’s difficult to see how we’ll be playing them in June. It’s not just about the fixture, it’s the fact that they need to get together, have a training camp and get all their players on the pitch with a proper period of time to prepare for such an important game.

“Andriy Shevchenko, who I know from my time at Chelsea, spoke quite well about the situation and said they would want to play on the pitch.

“But the way the situation is I think they should get as much time as possible to try to make that game happen - Scotland against Ukraine at Hampden.”

Anything else

More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for tonight's match with Poland with £10 from every ticket going to Unicef UK's emergency appeal. To quote the Scottish FA, the hastily arranged friendly against Poland is a match "that transcends football".

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