Scotland discover Pot fate for World Cup qualifying

There was a chance that Scotland could’ve entered Pot 2 for the draw on Friday, December 13. 

That was totally out of their control though, as that relied on either one of the Czechs or Slovakia NOT winning their last remaining Nations League B games this evening. 

However, both countries pulled it out of the bag against Georgia and Estonia on home soil respectively. 

Now that Pot 3 is confirmed for the Scots, it means that Clarke’s men will likely be drawn against one of the eight UEFA Nations League quarter-finalists as the Pot 1 team for the World Cup qualifying campaign. It’s highly likely Scotland will be drawn in a group or four teams as opposed to five.

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Scotland pulled off a sensational stoppage-time victory over Poland in Warsaw last night, thanks to goals from John McGinn and Andy Robertson.

That saw Scotland survive in Nations League A1 for now, but they will face a play-off against either Greece, Austria, Ukraine or Turkiye to determine whether they remain in the elite tier of the competition, or drop into League B. 

Those games will be held in March 2025, before World Cup qualifying gets underway in June.

2026 World Cup qualifying pots in full

Pot 1

France

Spain

Belgium

Portugal

Netherlands

Italy

Germany

Croatia

Switzerland

Denmark

Austria

Pot 2

Ukraine

Turkiye

Sweden

Wales

Poland

Hungary

Serbia

Greece

Romania

Slovakia

Norway

Czechia

Pot 3

Scotland

Slovenia

Republic of Ireland

Albania

Finland

Georgia

North Macedonia

Iceland

Northern Ireland

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Montenegro

Israel

Pot 4

Bulgaria

Luxembourg

Belarus

Armenia

Kosovo

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

Estonia

Cyprus

Latvia

Faroe Islands

Lithuania

Pot 5

Moldova

Malta

Andorra

Gibraltar

Liechtenstein

San Marino