Uefa’s new calendar means Scotland will face Israel before Euro 2020 play-off semi
● Nations League tie to precede key clash ● Single knockouts for club qualifiers
Uefa yesterday mapped out the coming months of cross border competition, both at international and club level, that have been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 shutdown, an emergency that forced Euro 2020, for which Hampden is a host venue, to be pushed back a year.
It remains unclear when spectators will be allowed back into football stadiums – with the return likely to be staggered across countries depending on their coronavirus infection rates.
The Scotland national team have been handed the phoney war against Israel they had hoped to avoid. Uefa has rejigged dates for the second edition of the Nations League, while fitting around them the Euro 2020 play-offs from the inaugural tournament delayed from March by the coronavirus emergency.
It means that Scotland will host Israel in the first game of their second Nations League on 4 September – then travel to the Czech Republic three days later – before meeting the Israelis again at Hampden in their delayed play-off semifinal on 8 October. If they come through that, they will contest a final away to either Norway or Serbia on 12 November that will earn the winners a place at Euro 2020.
Both the October and November international breaks will potentially be three-game fortnights. Following the Israel play-off, Scotland will contest Nations League games against Slovakia and Czech Republic. If they contest the play-off final, it will roll around days before their closing Nations League games against Slovakia and, once more, Israel. Until they met in late 2018 in the newlyintroduced Nations League tournament, Scotland hadn’t faced Israel for 22 years. By the end of 2020, they will have played them five times in two years.
With Hearts relegated to a Scottish Championship that has a provisional start date of 17 October, Steve Clarke will have a decision to make on whether he selects Steven Naismith and John Souttar for the 8 October play-off semi-final. By then it is likely neither will have played any competitive football in almost seven months.
Rangers will complete their postponed Europa League return leg last-16 tie away to Bayer Leverkusen, originally scheduled for 19 March, on 5 or 6 August – the midweek after the new Scottish Premiership season kicks off.
It has yet to be decided whether this last-16 decider will be staged in Leverkusen, or elsewhere in Germany, where the competition will be completed from the quarterfinal stage, with a one-legged knockout tournament set to be held in Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf from 10-21 August. Steven Gerrard’s side lost the home leg 3-1 on 12 March, the night before Scottish football was suspended.
The postponed 2019-20 Champions League will also be settled by a mini-tournament in Lisbon.
Next season’s European club competitions will feature onelegged qualifying ties, with the draw to determine home advantage. Celtic, the Scottish champions, who will be seeded for the early rounds,
Euro 2020 play-offs
Semi-final: 8 Oct: Scotland v Israel
Final: 12 Nov: Norway or Serbia v Scotland or Israel
Europa League
Last 16 2nd leg: 5/6 Aug: Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1)
Winners advance to one-legged knockout tournament to be held in Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen from 10-21 August to play quarters, semis and final.
Women’s Champions League
Quarter-finals: 21/22 Aug: Glasgow City v Wolfsburg (part of mini-tournament in Bilbao/san Sebastian) will enter at the first qualifying round of the Champions League on 18-19 August, with the second round a week later. The third qualifier will take place on 15-16 September with the play-off ties in the following two weeks. Only the playoff stage – to which Celtic have failed to progress in the past two years – will be two-legged. The group stage is scheduled to start on 20 October.
Scotland’s Europa League representatives for the 2020-21 qualifying stages will face the prospect of needing to negotiate four rounds of one-off knockout games to make the group stage. Motherwell and Aberdeen will play their first Europa League games on 27 August, while Rangers enter at the second qualifying round on 17 September. The subsequent two rounds are in the following fortnight. The group stages are scheduled to begin on 21 October.
Uefa has made great play of its ability to “find solutions” that will allow the 2019-20 Women’s Champions League to be completed. President
Aleksander Čeferin said: “It was important to send a strong signal that it is possible to complete this season, in a time where women’s sports have suffered substantially.” The decision impacts on Glasgow City. They face a one-legged mini-knockout tournament in Spain to complete their campaign. They are scheduled to face Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals on 21-22 August with the final taking place on 30 August. Matches will be held in Bilbao and San Sebastian.