Scotland Nations League A draw: Possible opponents, World Cup 2026 implications, when is the draw?

Everything you need to know ahead of the Nations League draw as Scotland prepare to make their League A debut

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke will travel to Paris on Thursday for the Nations League draw. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The road to the 82,000-capacity MetLife stadium in New York, home of the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants, starts here.

Well, it begins in Paris on Thursday evening to be accurate, when the draw for the newly expanded Nations League takes place at 5pm GMT. The fourth edition of Uefa's friendlies-supplanting brainwave could provide Scotland and other European teams with a backdoor entry to the biggest tournament in world sport – biggest being the operative word.

The MetLife stadium is where the next World Cup final will be won and lost on July 19, 2026. And while Scotland might or not be present there that day, they are desperate to be one of the 48 nations involved at the very start of the sprawling, 104-game tournament stretching across the United States, Canada and Mexico in three summers’ time.

The primary qualification competition for the World Cup begins next year. The 12 European group winners in that competition will qualify directly for the finals, with the 12 group runners-up entering play-offs. However, four play-off berths will also be reserved for the four best-ranked Nations League group winners who have not finished first or second in regular qualifying.

The last four European qualifiers for the World Cup will be determined by those play-offs in March 2026.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke will prefer to qualify automatically of course. "What play-offs?" he asked when the subject of backdoor entry for Euro 2024 was raised this time last year, with Scotland having already banked a play-off place following their most recent Nations League exploits. Clarke's side duly qualified through the traditional route after a storming campaign where they finished runners-up to Spain.

The Nations League is now a mini-tournament in itself – indeed, it could potentially be more testing than Scotland’s forthcoming challenge at the Euros, when Clarke’s side will be pitted against Germany, Hungary and Switzerland as they bid to make history by qualifying for the second stage for the first time.

A potential outcome on this their League A Nations League debut – Scotland secured promotion in the last edition after topping Group B1 ahead of Ukraine, Israel and Armenia – is a group comprising France, Portugal and Spain. One country the Scots cannot face is England, since they were relegated from League A last time round at the same time as Clarke's side were gaining promotion to the top tier.

It's also worth pointing out that it's impossible for Scotland to get old foes Israel since they – along with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia – are all in Pot 4 together.

Seven of the top ten ranked nations in the world are all prospective opponents: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Croatia. It is illustrative of Scotland's recent progress to recall their first Nations League group in 2018-19 was in League C and saw home and away games against Israel and Albania. Finishing top under then manager Alex McLeish provided a pathway to Euro 2020 with play-off victories over Israel then Serbia.

Clarke will be in attendance in France, as will SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell, although the manager may well be preoccupied with more immediate matters. Indeed, he might be frustrated that there are more patience-testing draws than actual matches at present. The manager travelled to Hamburg in December for the Euro 2024 draw. Scotland have not played since concluding their successful qualifying campaign with a 3-3 draw against Norway at Hampden in November.

The first Nations League fixture is not scheduled until the opening international window of next season, between September 5-10. A new two-legged quarter-final stage will take place in March next year, as will relegation and promotion play-offs. The semi-finals and finals are staged in June next year.

It might all feel a long way away for Clarke, who is counting down to June 14 this year, when Scotland kick-off Euro 2024 against Germany in Munich.

Squad issues will be dominating his thoughts, with Harvey Barnes making his mark in very timely fashion by scoring the equaliser in a crazy 4-4 draw on his return to the Newcastle United side against Luton Town last weekend following a long injury lay-off.

It has done little to douse speculation that Clarke might seek to bring the forward on board prior to the Euros. However, the manager has stressed he won't go begging anyone to switch allegiance to Scotland, with Barnes having already been capped once by England in a friendly.

Such persuasion would not need to be required in the case of two other players whose recent form means they could be in the frame for this summer’s finals.

Winger Ryan Fraser has made his peace with Clarke following the manager’s annoyance with him for pulling out of a double header against Moldova and Denmark citing injury, although he hasn't been capped since a friendly defeat against Turkey at the end of 2022.

Fraser has since transferred from Newcastle to Southampton and is bang in form for the team sitting second in the Championship, with three goals already this year.

Meanwhile, Bristol City striker Tommy Conway has also emerged as a contender since scoring to knock West Ham out of the FA Cup last month. He has struck eight times in total this season and is already part of Scot Gemmill’s Under 21 squad, with Clarke inviting him to train with the full squad last summer.

“I don’t see why not?” was the 21-year-old’s answer when asked recently if he could force himself into the manager's plans in time for Germany.

Clarke will admire the chutzpah but might be looking for the striker to add to his tally before considering him for the squad for the friendlies against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland next month. Conway has failed to score in four outings since that memorable strike against West Ham.