Scotland to learn path to World Cup 2026 at qualifying draw in Zurich

Scotland will learn who stands between the men’s national team and a place at World Cup 2026 when FIFA holds the qualifying draw on Friday.

The draw in Zurich will unveil a path to Canada, Mexico and the United States as Steve Clarke and his players aim to end Scotland’s long exile from the finals.

Clarke has guided Scotland to consecutive European Championships but it remains a painful fact that Scotland have not played on world football’s biggest stage since 1998. The road to the next World Cup won’t be easy either, regardless of who they draw on Friday.

Scotland’s performance in the Nations League, where they finished third in their League A group and set up a relegation play-off against Greece, means the team will be in the third pot of seeds.

That means facing two sides from the pots above and being considered underdogs before kicking a ball.

Teams will be drawn into 21 groups of four or five, with each team playing its group opponents home and away.

Games will be played in pairs, with five-team groups starting in March next year and four-team groups beginning in September. The qualifying campaign will end in November.

From those 12 groups and 54 teams, only 16 will reach the finals.

Group winners will automatically book a place at the tournament, with the 12 runners-up going into play-offs – alongside the four best-ranked Nations League group winners – to fight for the four remaining places at the finals.

Scotland don’t have the security of a Nations League lifeline and will have to do it the hard way, with the identity of their group opponents likely to play a huge part in how the team fares.

Pot one, as expected, is packed with talented sides and most will be praying to avoid France and Spain but the Tartan Army might be a little optimistic if they were to be taking on Croatia, who were defeated at Hampden last month, or the other lower-ranked sides Switzerland, Denmark or Austria.

Pot two holds plenty of danger but also some intriguing ties. Wales are among the sides Scotland could face, while Clarke and his players celebrated victory over Poland in Warsaw just a few weeks ago.

Pot four and five teams will most likely need to be beaten home and away if Scotland are to have realistic hopes of making the finals and while every side is ranked considerably lower, there are some less appealing match-ups and journeys.

All will become clear some time after 11am on Friday, when the manager, his players and the supporters can start looking at the fixtures in detail and start dreaming of qualification.