What’s next for Scotland after finishing third in Nations League

IT was tonight or never for Scotland in the Nations League.

Steve Clarke‘s men knew they needed to secure awin in Warsaw to stand any chance of finishing second in their League A group.

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This seemed like a pipe dream last week.

But it actually looked like it could have been a reality at one point tonight.

It wasn’t to be in the end though – despite Scotland‘s best efforts to pull off the remarkable turnaround.

Scotland needed to either win against Poland by either two or more goals and Portugal to beat Croatia, or vice versa.

But although the game in Warsaw finished 2-1 in the Tartan Army‘s favour, it ended 1-1 in Zagreb.

It means the Dark Blues leapfrogged Poland into third in the final fixture but missed out on that dream second spot.

But it’s not all bad news for Scotland as they could now still feature in League A next time around – should they win a relegation play-off.

SunSport has everything you need to in terms of what happens next – and what we missed out on – after a chaotic final night in the Nations League.

What happens after Scotland finished third?

• Scotland will enter a relegation play-off against one of the teams finishing second in a League B group.
• It is a two-legged tie where the winners will secure a spot in League A, the losers will play the next campaign in League B.
• Scotland will drop to Pot 3 in World Cup qualifying.

Possible relegation play-off opponents

• Scotland will face one of the League B group winners in the relegation play-off.
• Play-offs will take place on March 20 and March 23.
• CONFIRMED: Greece
• CONFIRMED: Austria
• Group 1 to be decided: Czechia, Georgia, Albania and Ukraine
• Group 4 to be decided: Turkey, Wales or Iceland

What would have happened if Scotland finished second?

• Scotland would have continued their Nations League campaign by qualifying for the two-legged quarter-final stage in March 2025.
• They would have also been handed a dream Pot 1 place for the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

What would have happened if Scotland finished bottom of the group?

• Should the Poland game have finished in a draw or a win in favour of the home nation then the Dark Blues would have dropped to fourth.
• Scotland would have been automatically relegated to League B.

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