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Your Euro 2024 Scotland guide as draw looms – BBC Sport
European Championship 2024 draw |
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Venue: Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg Date: Saturday, 2 December Time: 17:00 GMT |
Coverage: Watch on Sportscene Results, BBC One Scotland; text updates on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Booked up for Baden-Baden? Camping in Cologne or going five stars in Freiburg?
The Tartan Army are mobilising for the trip of a lifetime to Germany next summer for Euro 2024.
Scotland are in pot three for Saturday evening’s draw, having skooshed through as runners-up behind Spain in qualifying Group A.
Following the ceremony in Hamburg, the tournament picture will become much clearer and planning can begin in earnest.
Who else will be there?
There are 21 confirmed names in der hut, with three more to be added after the March play-offs from the Nations League. Remember them?
Pot 1: Germany (hosts), Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, England
Pot 2: Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Albania, Austria
Pot 3: Netherlands, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic
Pot 4: Italy, Serbia, Switzerland, Play-off winner A, Play-off winner B, Play-off winner C
How does the draw work?
The opening bash gets started at 17:00 GMT in Hamburg’s Philharmonic Hall.
Teams will be drawn into six different groups of four, with nations split up into four different pots.
Rather than rankings, the seeding for all bar the hosts is based on how well the teams performed in qualifying, with Scotland briefly flirting with pots one and two before landing in three.
That might not be such a bad thing since we avoid Croatia and Czech Republic, who cuffed us at the last Euros, along with the Netherlands.
Pot two has some less formidable names, like Austria, Albania and Romania, but there are some dangerous opponents lurking in pot four, including defending champions Italy!
Dare we look beyond the group stage? It’s uncharted territory for Scotland.
The top two progress, with four of the teams finishing third making up the last 16.
It all kicks off in Munich on 14 June, with the knockout action beginning on 29 June. The quarter-finals take place on 5 and 6 July.
You’ll be running out of money, pants and socks if Scotland are still standing when the semis get under way on 9 and 10 July and the final is on the 14th.
Where are the games and how do I get a ticket?
Thousands have already purchased flights and accommodation, while the first phase of the ticket sales ballot, which was open to everyone, closed in late October, with 1.2 million sold and many left disappointed.
There will be a second phase after the draw and a third following the play-offs, via national associations.
It has been reported that all nations will receive an allocation of around 9,500 tickets per game. The Scotland Supporters Club has 38,000 members, with varying loyalty points.
For the second phase there should also be a few returns from the first ballot and you must register for a free online account with Uefa to bid.
The European governing body say more than 80% of the total 2.7 million tickets will be for fans of the participating teams and the general public.
There are 10 host cities for the month-long tournament.
- Berlin: Olympiastadion (74,475 capacity)
- Cologne: Cologne Stadium (47,000),
- Dortmund: BVB Stadion Dortmund (66,000)
- Dusseldorf: Düsseldorf Arena (47,000)
- Frankfurt: Frankfurt Arena (48,000)
- Gelsenkirchen: Arena AufSchalke (50,000)
- Hamburg: Volksparkstadion Hamburg (50,000)
- Leipzig: Leipzig Stadium (42,000)
- Munich: Munich Football Arena (67,000)
- Stuttgart: Stuttgart Arena (54,000)
Each group will have fixtures scattered across Germany, so it could be a bit of a lottery trying to plot the best spot for a base camp.
However, there is a very good public transport system and there will be fan parks up and down the country for those without match tickets.
If you are stuck at home, all matches are free to air, split between the BBC and ITV.
And just remember Scotland fans, that 14 July final is in Berlin…