Scotland to face Belarus, Greece and Portugal or Denmark in World Cup qualifying

Recent Belarus home games have been played at neutral venues amid the ongoing conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

“First off, it’s to find out where the game will be played,” Clarke said.

“The most important thing is to concentrate on the team, the players, the way they’re going to play and make sure that wherever we play them and – put all the political stuff aside, for me – it’s just to concentrate that we get the points that we require from that game.”

Clarke’s side reached the play-offs for the last World Cup in Qatar but were eliminated by Ukraine.

Scotland will face Greece in March’s Nations League play-offs, aiming to remain in League A, and Clarke commented: “Greece, we’ll get to know very well over the next year.”

The men’s team last faced Greece in competitive fixtures as part of the Euro 96 qualifying campaign, with the home side winning 1-0 on both occasions.

Portugal beat visitors Scotland 2-1 in their recent Nations League group, with the return fixture at Hampden finishing 0-0. Denmark beat Scotland at home in the last World Cup qualifying campaign but lost by the same 2-0 scoreline at Hampden.

Belarus won the last of four meetings with Scotland in 2005, a World Cup qualifier. The Scots won two and drew the other of the previous encounters.