Scotland to face hosts in Euros opener

SCOTLAND will kick off Euro 2024 after they were drawn to face tournament hosts Germany in Group A.

Steve Clarke’s side, who sealed qualification for the finals with two matches to spare, will play in the opening match in Munich on June 14 before games against Switzerland and Hungary.

Gareth Southgate’s England were drawn to face Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia in Group C.

The draw was disrupted by what appeared to be sexual noises during the broadcast of the ceremony. UEFA were last night trying to establish what occurred.

It had echoes of an incident in January when similar noises could be heard during the BBC’s live coverage of Wolves v Liverpool in the FA Cup. A mobile phone had been taped in place next to the studio.

Wales still need to win two playoff matches in March to make it, but face a difficult assignment against 2022 World Cup finalists France, the Netherlands and Austria if they do.

Scotland lost to Germany at the group stage of Euro 92, a 2-0 defeat preventing the Scots from progressing. Scotland also faced West Germany at the finals of the 1986 World Cup, where the Germans won 2-1 en route to the final. The Germans have won the three most recent encounters.

Scotland have never faced Hungary in a competitive match but have won three of their previous nine encounters, while they beat the Swiss 1-0 in Euro 96 at Villa Park - the teams’ last competitive encounter.

England’s opening match will be against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen. They then move to Frankfurt to take on Denmark and their final group match will be against Slovenia in Cologne.

European champions Italy were drawn in Group B against Spain, Croatia and Albania while Belgium, Slovakia and Romania will be up against the winners of playoff path B in Group E. Group F is headed up by Portugal, who won all 10 qualifiers, alongside Turkey, the Czech Republic and the winner of play-off path C.