Euro 2024: How will Scotland players find out about call-up? – BBC Sport

Is there a phone call? Or a WhatsApp?

Are they having to anxiously refresh their social media feeds?

Or is it just a phone screen notification stating “Steve Clarke has added you to the group ‘Scotland Euros squad’.”

Wednesday is the day some players’ will have their ambitions fulfilled. Others will have theirs crushed.

Some might even find they’re having to hastily rearrange holiday plans when they are surprisingly named in the provisional 28-man squad for Euro 2024.

But how does it all work? BBC Scotland has been trying to find out…

Very soon, an email will drop in the inboxes of 28 players from team manager Ashley Philip requesting their presence at the biggest Scottish football party in recent memory.

Two will have their invites revoked before the finals start, but that’s a concern for another day.

For now, they will be part of the official announcement at around 11:00 BST on Wednesday, made by way of a “little bit rowdy” social media video.

Obviously, some know they’re guaranteed picks. But not everyone is in that position.

A few weeks ago, the Scottish FA contacted the club of every player under consideration – usually around 35-40 of them – to check if they are fit and available. Some of the names of that list would likely surprise you.

But that Fitness for Duty request is more admin than anything else, though.

Scottish FA chief medical officer Jonny Gordon and national team physio Stuart Collie are in regular communication with clubs.

Furthermore, players have their data continually monitored by a team lead by sports science and data manager Mark Leslie and performance analysis manager Mark McKenna.

That said, some clubs don’t always pass that news on to players. Meaning that Wednesday email might still come as a wee bit of a surprise to one or two.

As well as offering congratulations, that precious email is full of useful information.

Where to go. When they need to get there. What they need to bring. There is details of backroom staff, doping advice and information about well-being.

Philip will speak directly to all 28, too, to sort travel requirements. Some might need more guidance than others…

A pre-camp induction, including the requirements of international players and national team code of conduct, will be provided.

As will specific training plans created by sports scientist Shayne Murphy to ensure the players all arrive in broadly similar conditions.

Some players will fly in from outside the UK.

Others might be closer to home but unable to drive or bemused by the notion of finding their way to the squad meeting point by public transport.

They are reimbursed for expenses – conjuring images of them carrying around fistfuls of receipts and filling in claim sheets – but usually they will be collected from airports or stations.

Once they arrive on 29 May, senior players such as captain Andy Robertson will ensure a more informal initiation than Philip’s briefings…

Nothing is more important than their passport.

There have been some memorable hunts for missing ones over the years.

One player arrived at the airport on the occasion of his first call-up only to discover he had brought his baby daughter’s passport instead of his own.

Another time, Philip’s predecessor ‘Uncle’ Frank Reilly had to charter a seaplane to retrieve a missing one.

With that in mind, all such documentation is handed over to Philip for safe-keeping once the players arrive.

Aside from that, they will travel light.

They will be provided with kit as soon as they arrive so all they really need are boots, shinguards and their aftershave of choice.

Yes. And we’re not just talking about an A4 sheet of paper slipped under the hotel room door.

The squad are all given access to an app called Teamworks, which sends individual training plans, meeting times, meal information, analysis and media requirements direct to their phones or tablets.

One particular point of difference is the Uefa content gathering day.

That is when rights holders can get all manner of stuff, from the team line-up poses you see on TV before matches, to TikTok challenges, to player takeovers of social media accounts.

Uefa have sent a 15-page memo to associations about the requirements, with the whole thing expected to take up to four hours.

It’s certainly evolved from the Scott Brown era.

Back then, the very first group set up by the association and containing players, staff and administrators descended into chaos within 20 minutes thanks to all manner of eye-watering contributions.

Now, all the important information is disseminated by the app mentioned previously, but there is a player-specific group looked after by the captain and senior squad members.

They need to speak to Philip again.

Each will be given an allocation – enough so they’re not scrabbling around trying to find a seat for their mum, but not enough to satisfy the inevitable requests from cousins they’ve not seen in years.