Scotland women to face Spain in Euro 2013 play-off

Scotland coach Anna Signeul’s side were first out of pot 2 during yesterday’s draw at the Uefa headquarters in Nyon, and will take on Spain at the national stadium on Saturday 20 October.

The second leg will be played on 24 or 25 October, with venue details to be confirmed.

Scotland have not faced Spain at this level for 14 years, and never under the current Uefa tournament format.

Signeul said: “This will be a new and very interesting challenge for us. In all honesty they are the one team in the draw that we know least about.

“What we do know is that they are a technically gifted side. We can expect them to have a lot of ball possession and we will have to be at the top of our game to get the better of them.

The other play-off ties are Ukraine v Iceland and Austria v Russia.

Scotland reached the play-offs for Euro 2009, the first time that a Scotland women’s team had reached that stage.

Signeul’s side lost to Russia on away goals, after a 3-2 defeat at Tynecastle and a 2-1 win in Nalchick.

Signeul said: “Those two matches were very important for our development. We proved that we could compete against a team of this calibre – even beating them for the first time, and on their own turf.

Next summer, 12 teams will compete at the finals in Sweden: the hosts, seven group winners (Italy, Germany, Norway, France, Finland, England, Denmark), best runners-up the Netherlands, and the winners of the three play-off ties.