Scotland’s 2026 World Cup qualifying pot confirmed

ANDY ROBERTSON’s late winner against Poland ensured Scotland live to fight another day in League A of the Nations League.

Steve Clarke‘s men will participate in a two-legged play-off in March 2025 to retain their place in the top tier – but after that, attentions will turn to qualifying for the World Cup in 2026.

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Scotland needed results to go our way tonight in the final card of Nations League fixtures in order to stay in Pot 2 for the World Cup qualifying draw.

The seeding for this edition of World Cup qualifying is different from previous versions, as it is weighted (at the top at least) more in favour of the Nations League.

Pot 1 contains the eight Nations League quarter-finalists, regardless of their position in the FIFA world rankings. It is then topped up by the next four highest ranked teams who aren’t already included.

Pots 2 through 5 are made up according to the FIFA rankings, but things become extra complicated with the caveat that there will be exceptions made for teams competing in the promotion/relegation play-offs for the Nations League (too many teams may end up in Pot 3, for example, so some tinkering may be required to ensure all five pots remain evenly distributed).

Evenly distributed to a point that is – because some of the World Cup qualifying groups will have five teams and others will have four.

If you’re still with us, here’s more of what you need to know regarding Scotland’s potential journey to the first 48-team World Cup, to be held in Canada, Mexico and the USA from June 11 to July 19 2026.

When is the draw for 2026 World Cup qualifying?

• The draw for 2026 World Cup qualifying (in Europe) takes place on December 13, 2024.
• It will take place at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
• The draw will begin at 11am.
• But, due to the Nations League play-offs in March 2025, the full line-up of some groups won’t be known until then.

What pot will Scotland be in for the draw?

• Scotland will be in Pot 3 for the draw.
• Slovakia beating Estonia and Czechia beating Georgia dropped Scotland from Pot 2 into Pot 3, which isn’t the best of news.
• It means we won’t face the following teams, who are also in Pot 3: Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro.
• There’s six groups of five and six groups of four
• But as there’s fewer than six teams in Pot 3 who aren’t involved in Nations League quarter finals or playoffs, it has been confirmed that Scotland will get priority for a FOUR-team group
• That means we WON’T face a team from Pot 5

Who could Scotland play in 2026 World Cup qualifying?*

From Pot 1: England, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, Belgium, Austria

From Pot 2: Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Slovakia.

From Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Kosovo, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania.

When will the qualifying campaign start?

It’s most likely Scotland’s World Cup qualifying campaign will begin in September 2025.

That’s because we are likely to be in a four-nation group.

The likes of Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Belgium will all be playing in the Nations League quarter-finals (and beyond).

So with that in mind, and one less fixture to worry about, there will be four games for the groups with five teams between March and June before the four-team groups join in the action in September.

If you’re marking your calendar, the dates would be September 4 to 6 for the first match and September 7 to 9 for the second game.

The next round of fixtures would be from October 9 to 14 (Matchdays 3 and 4), with the final round of group stage games taking place from November 13 to 18.

What happens at the end of World Cup qualifying?

The group winners will automatically qualify for the World Cup but then things got complicated again (it is Uefa after all).

SIXTEEN teams (twelve group runners-up and the four best Nations League group winners who didn’t win their qualifying group) will then enter a second phase of fixtures, with semi-finals on March 26 2026 and finals a few days later on March 31 2026.

Four countries will qualify via these play-offs.

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