![\"Lyndon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-scotland-john-mcginn_7047558.jpg\")
<\/p>\nScotland’s World Cup dream could be realised at Hampden Park next week. <\/p>\n
1998 was the last time the Tartan Army partied at football’s biggest tournament – Steve Clarke has them believing the long absence is about to end.<\/p>\n
There is just one game left in Group C, with automatic qualification remaining a possibility.<\/p>\n
Clarke’s side have beaten Belarus twice, won against Greece at Hampden but fell to defeat in Piraeus and held Denmark to a goalless draw away from home.<\/p>\n
Now they will need to beat Denmark on November 18 to top their World Cup qualifying group for the first time since 1982.<\/p>\n
The Danes are one point ahead following their 2-2 draw with Belarus, keeping Scotland’s hopes of automatic qualification alive heading into the final game.<\/p>\n
A play-off place is already secured, but automatic qualification is the ultimate prize for Scotland.<\/p>\n
To finish top of Group\u202fC, they need to beat Denmark, with goal difference now out of the question, given that they face each other in the last game.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Scotland beat Greece at Hampden Park last month<\/p>\n
How do play-offs work? <\/p>\n
![\"Scotland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-scotland-france-1998_7079008.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Scotland’s last World Cup appearance was in 1998<\/p>\n
The 12 group runners-up will participate in the play-offs, along with the four best-ranked group winners of the 2024\/25 UEFA Nations League that did not finish their European Qualifiers group stage in first or second place.<\/p>\n
The 16 teams that enter the play-offs will be drawn into four play-off paths, with four teams in each. Play-off matches will be played in single-leg semi-finals, followed by single-leg finals within the same international window in from March 26 to 31 next year.<\/p>\n
How many European teams will qualify?<\/p>\n
In total, 16 UEFA nations will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The 12 group winners qualify directly for the World Cup; the four remaining berths are determined by play-offs involving the 12 group runners-up.<\/p>\n
Scotland squad in full:<\/p>\n
Goalkeepers: Scott Bain (Falkirk), Craig Gordon (Hearts), Liam Kelly (Rangers).<\/p>\n
Defenders: Josh Doig (Sassuolo), Grant Hanley (Hibernian), Jack Hendry (Al Etiffaq), Aaron Hickey (Brentford), Scott McKenna (Dinamo Zagreb), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Kieran Tierney (Celtic).<\/p>\n
Midfielders: Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Ben Gannon Doak (Bournemouth), Billy Gilmour (Napoli), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich), Scott McTominay (Napoli), Connor Barron (Rangers), Andy Irving (West Ham).<\/p>\n
Forwards: Che Adams (Torino), Lyndon Dykes (Birmingham), George Hirst (Ipswich), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts).<\/p>\n
From ‘head-scratcher’ to the brink of history <\/p>\n
![\"GLASGOW,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-che-adams-scotland_7049198.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Scotland’s Che Adams opened the scoring against Belarus<\/p>\n
Scotland picked up four points from their opening two qualifiers, drawing away to top-seeds Denmark, before beating Belarus 2-0 to end September joint-top of the table.<\/p>\n
Next up was a Hampden Park double header in which all six points were claimed.<\/p>\n
Clarke’s side did it the hard way, as they came from behind to beat Greece 3-1, before a 2-1 win over Belarus helped secure a play-off spot.<\/p>\n
That victory over Belarus saw Clarke take charge of a record-breaking 72nd game as national team boss, but afterwards he described the performance as a “head-scratcher”, before adding it was “possibly as disappointed as I’ve been over the whole 72 games”.<\/p>\n
![\"Scotland\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skysports-scotland-football_7049310.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke admits their performance in their unconvincing World Cup qualifying win vs Belarus was a ‘head scratcher’<\/p>\n
Clarke did promise “a different animal” but a slow start against already eliminated Greece saw them squander the chance to move to the top of the table. Improvements will be needed to beat Denmark.<\/p>\n
A play-off spot is secured, but one more win will seal a return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998. Scotland and Clarke are on the brink of making history.<\/p>\n
World Cup 2026 European qualifiers scheduleFinal group-stage match dates: November 13-18, 2025Play-off match dates: March 26-31 2026Final tournament dates: June 11 to July 19 2026When and where is the 2026 World Cup? <\/p>\n
Datawrapper<\/p>\n
This content is provided by Datawrapper, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Datawrapper cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> The 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 19, 2026.<\/p>\n The tournament will take place across 16 cities in three North American countries: the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is the first time a World Cup has been hosted by three nations.<\/p>\n The last time North America hosted the tournament was in 1994, when Brazil triumphed after beating Italy on penalties.<\/p>\n An expanded World Cup will feature 48 teams – 16 more than in Qatar 2022 – and take place across three host nations for the first time.<\/p>\n World Cup 2026 schedule<\/p>\n Group stage: June 11-27
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Round of 32: June 28 to July 3
Round of 16: July 4-7
Quarter-finals: July 9-11
Semi-finals: July 14-15
Third-place play-off (‘Bronze final’): July 18
Final: July 19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland’s World Cup dream could be realised at Hampden Park next week. 1998 was the last time the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-289344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}