THE LOWDOWN AHEAD OF DUBLIN DRAW
SO WHO’S IN THE DRAW? Scotland are one of 12 nations cohosting the finals in two years’ time but all 12 of them are in the draw, as are defending champions Portugal. Kosovo are the 55th and newest addition to the UEFA club. HOW MANY GROUPS ARE THERE? In total, 10. The 55 teams will be drawn into five groups of five and five groups of six with the top two teams from each of the 10 sections qualifying for the finals. The last four places in the 24-team finals will determined by a playoff. ANY POINTERS TO WHICH COUNTRY GOES WHERE?
There is. England and the three other Nations League semifinalists — Holland, Switzerland and Portugal — will be placed in the first position in Groups A to D which will have five teams in them.
The six next-best sides in League A of the Nations League — Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Croatia — will be the firstranked teams in Groups E-J. The other countries have been split into five pots based on their performances in the Nations League group campaign which finished last month. SCOTLAND’S BEST AND WORST SCENARIOS ARE... The nightmare group would probably feature France, Germany, Montenegro, Macedonia and Latvia, while the dream section would see Alex McLeish’s men pitted against Poland, Iceland, Estonia, Gibraltar and San Marino. Scotland will play each team in their group home and away with two games in March next year, two in September, two in October and two in November.
UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE POT: Switzerland*, Portugal*, Netherlands*, England*
POT ONE: Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Poland
POT TWO: Germany, Iceland, Bosnia-Herzegovina*, Ukraine*, Denmark*, Sweden*, Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic
POT THREE: Slovakia, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland*, Norway*, Serbia*, Finland*, Bulgaria, Israel
POT FOUR: Hungary, Romania, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Georgia*
POT FIVE: Macedonia*, Kosovo*, Belarus*, Luxembourg, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Gibraltar, Faroe Islands
POT SIX: Latvia, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, San Marino *indicates team who have already secured Euro 2020 play-off spot at least