UEFA 2028.....

[Yosemite Sam]

19 hours ago, Toepoke said:

Ripped straight from UEFA:-

UEFA EURO 2028 – Qualification system

The UEFA Executive Committee has confirmed the qualification format for UEFA EURO 2028, to be held across nine venues in the UK and Ireland with 24 participating teams.

As in the current 2024-26 European Qualifiers, twelve qualifying groups will be formed of four or five teams. Hosts England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales will also participate in qualifying, drawn into separate groups.

The 12 group winners and 8 best runners-up (20 teams) will advance directly to the EURO 2028 final tournament.

Two spots in the final tournament will be reserved for the two best ranked host nations who are not qualified as group winners or best runners-up after the completion of the qualifying group stage.

The remaining spots will be assigned via play-offs between the remaining runners-up in the qualifying groups and the best ranked 2026-27 UEFA Nations League non-qualified group winners.

Depending on the number of spots used by the host nations, the number of final tournament spots decided by play-offs may vary between two and four, in one of the three following scenarios:

• Both reserved qualifying slots for the hosts used: Eight teams compete in two paths for two final tournament spots, with single-leg semi-finals and finals.

• One reserved qualifying slot for the hosts used: Twelve teams compete in three paths for three final tournament spots, with single-leg semi-finals and finals.

• No reserved qualifying slot for the hosts used: Eight teams contest four home-and-away play-off ties, with the winners advancing to the final tournament.

What if we finish second but are not in the top 8 and not one of the highest ranked non qualified host nations? Do we then go into the Nations League playoffs?

Never mind, just re-read it, yes we would 

Edited July 9 by Yosemite Sam

[Yosemite Sam]

Typical really, this tournament will be the first, to my knowledge, whereby the hosts aren't automatically top seeds in the finals. Apparently the hosts get to play their group games at their home stadium though, whoop-de-doo! Yet the next World Cup all SIX host nations are to be seeded, wtf?

Edited July 9 by Yosemite Sam

[Toepoke]

46 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Typical really, this tournament will be the first, to my knowledge, whereby the hosts aren't automatically top seeds in the finals. Apparently the hosts get to play their group games at their home stadium though, whoop-de-doo! Yet the next World Cup all SIX host nations are to be seeded, wtf?

If we qualify we will definitely be top seeds in Group F, the match schedule is out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2028

 

[DoonTheSlope]

6 hours ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Typical really, this tournament will be the first, to my knowledge, whereby the hosts aren't automatically top seeds in the finals. Apparently the hosts get to play their group games at their home stadium though, whoop-de-doo! Yet the next World Cup all SIX host nations are to be seeded, wtf?

Different governing bodies using different criteria

Rightly so in my opinion. In Recent world cups we’ve seen the likes of Qatar, South Africa and Canada being top seeds

You should have to earn the right to be at the top of the tree

[Yosemite Sam]

9 hours ago, Toepoke said:

If we qualify we will definitely be top seeds in Group F, the match schedule is out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2028

 

I read that the host nations are put in the top position of the group but are not seeds as such, they are just allocated that position to keep them apart and play all their games at their national stadiums but could, theoretically, be 4th seeds

Also, that Wikipedia page has Northern Ireland as 'Top seeds' in group D,  they aren't even hosts anymore 🤔

Edited July 10 by Yosemite Sam

[Yosemite Sam]

3 hours ago, DoonTheSlope said:

Different governing bodies using different criteria

Rightly so in my opinion. In Recent world cups we’ve seen the likes of Qatar, South Africa and Canada being top seeds

You should have to earn the right to be at the top of the tree

But even in previous Euros the hosts have always been top seeds, as far as I'm aware

[Yosemite Sam]

13 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

I read that the host nations are put in the top position of the group but are not seeds as such, they are just allocated that position to keep them apart and play all their games at their national stadiums but could, theoretically, be 4th seeds

Also, that Wikipedia page has Northern Ireland as 'Top seeds' in group D,  they aren't even hosts anymore 🤔

[Toepoke]

10 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

That's slightly different from what the Wikipedia page says:-

"In each of the groups, position 1 in the schedule is reserved for the "group head", who are scheduled to play their group matches at one or more pre-selected venues. The four host nations and Northern Ireland have a group head position reserved should they be qualified by the time of the final draw. The remaining group head position(s) will be randomly assigned to Pot 1 team(s) in the final draw."

So the group heads could be (assuming all qualify):-

Group A- Wales

Group B- England 

Group C- France (or other top ranked)

Group D- N. Ireland 

Group E- Rep. of Ireland 

Group F- Scotland 

 

It's swings and roundabouts really, all it means is most of the strongest teams are in Pot 2, we'll still have a couple of tough opponents in our group.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

28 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

That's slightly different from what the Wikipedia page says:-

"In each of the groups, position 1 in the schedule is reserved for the "group head", who are scheduled to play their group matches at one or more pre-selected venues. The four host nations and Northern Ireland have a group head position reserved should they be qualified by the time of the final draw. The remaining group head position(s) will be randomly assigned to Pot 1 team(s) in the final draw."

So the group heads could be (assuming all qualify):-

Group A- Wales

Group B- England 

Group C- France (or other top ranked)

Group D- N. Ireland 

Group E- Rep. of Ireland 

Group F- Scotland 

 

It's swings and roundabouts really, all it means is most of the strongest teams are in Pot 2, we'll still have a couple of tough opponents in our group.

 

Yeah, the Euro group stage is harder to get out of than the World Cup, there'll be no 'diddy' teams like Haiti. So without the benefit of being top seeds, which seems likely, it'll probably be another early exit (If we get there at all)

[Rossm77]

24 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Yeah, the Euro group stage is harder to get out of than the World Cup, there'll be no 'diddy' teams like Haiti. So without the benefit of being top seeds, which seems likely, it'll probably be another early exit (If we get there at all)

We will almost certainly get there, its going to be harder for us not to qualify given the two free spaces being held back. 

[Toepoke]

26 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Yeah, the Euro group stage is harder to get out of than the World Cup, there'll be no 'diddy' teams like Haiti. So without the benefit of being top seeds, which seems likely, it'll probably be another early exit (If we get there at all)

Surely with three games at Hampden we'll be able to reach the fabled 4 points. There will never be a better chance anyway.

[McFadders]

1 hour ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Yeah, the Euro group stage is harder to get out of than the World Cup, there'll be no 'diddy' teams like Haiti. So without the benefit of being top seeds, which seems likely, it'll probably be another early exit (If we get there at all)

Worse teams than us got out the groups in 2024.

Fans deserve a decent tournament for once and it will be the last one for a number of players in the squad.

[mccaughey85]

Just now, McFadders said:

Worse teams than us got out the groups in 2024.

Fans deserve a decent tournament for once and it will be the last one for a number of players in the squad.

Would be a right bummer if the likes of mcginn, Robertson and mctominay played in 4 major tournaments and never got out the groups of any of them.

[Yosemite Sam]

1 hour ago, Toepoke said:

Surely with three games at Hampden we'll be able to reach the fabled 4 points. There will never be a better chance anyway.

Hampden advantage didn't really help us much in Euro 2020, the only point we got was when we weren't there

[bazmidd]

As hosts will we be top seeds at the Euros?

[Toepoke]

7 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

As hosts will we be top seeds at the Euros?

Yes but as mentioned with potentially 5 out of 6 groups having a host as top seed it's not a massive benefit (other than avoiding England or France/Spain).

 

[Yosemite Sam]

56 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

As hosts will we be top seeds at the Euros?

No, I'm afraid not. There's been a bit of confusion over this as it does appear that we would be seeds in the layout. However, we would be 'group heads' which is not the same as a top seeds 

Edited July 10 by Yosemite Sam

[Orraloon]

5 hours ago, Toepoke said:

Surely with three games at Hampden we'll be able to reach the fabled 4 points. There will never be a better chance anyway.

That's it. No managers job for you. If you are already planning to settle for 4 points. 😉

[Bzzzz]

Can you imagine hosting a tournament and not qualifying for it?... 

[Toepoke]

22 minutes ago, Bzzzz said:

Can you imagine hosting a tournament and not qualifying for it?... 

Would be a disaster. We were a penalty shootout away from it happening to us in 2020(1). Azerbaijan and Romania suffered the ignominy that time.

 

[Big Ramy 1314]

On 7/10/2026 at 11:11 AM, Orraloon said:

That's it. No managers job for you. If you are already planning to settle for 4 points. 😉

😂

[Big Ramy 1314]

I am sure it will be some task to get a Scotland ticket if we qualify. Especially me, with no SSC points or membership... Well, I guess Mrs.Ramy will be joining me at the FanZone.. She gonna shit herself. She has never been to anything like this in her life .😂😂

We need to qualify for this !!!

[Big Ramy 1314]

On 7/6/2026 at 5:07 AM, Bzzzz said:

Hampden Park is THE historic stadium in European fitba and no matter how much we WANT it upgraded or rebuilt we still need to be protective and proud of it, it's our home and on it's day it's difficult to imagine an atmosphere that can touch it.

The problem we have is that football in Scotland is kept in a cupboard, in a basement of an Old Firm old boy's club. Nobody is interested in significant change and whilst that exists we will continue to languish in abject mediocrity.

We ALL want a big lovely shiny new modern stadium but the simple fact is we ain't going to get one, England got theirs, Wales got theirs, Ireland can do what they want as they're independent, we are not and we won't get the funding to do it because no matter what there will ALWAYS be a political barrier there to stop it. Maybe if we had control of our own money, like Ireland does, then we could just get on with it because we ALL know we want and need it as much as we do a restructure of the game.

These Euros are, IMO, a pile of shite as they will just be "England's" Euros (when they shouldn't be ANYWHERE NEAR hosting another tournament/final after the disgrace of 2020) and we ALL know idiot politicians will be wanking on about "british" pish. We should have said "no", but then that would be cutting our noses off to spite our face... wouldn't it? 
 

I agree with this post, well said. As long as Hampden meets the safety standards, I have no problem with it...

I would add to your post Bzzzz, we need a PROPER national squad before we should be even thinking about a new ground...
 

Don't even get me started on the English hosting another tournament, and the government grants !!!!!!

[Silversand]

2 hours ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:

I am sure it will be some task to get a Scotland ticket if we qualify. Especially me, with no SSC points or membership... Well, I guess Mrs.Ramy will be joining me at the FanZone.. She gonna shit herself. She has never been to anything like this in her life .😂😂

We need to qualify for this !!!

Good question "Will everyone with an SSC membership get Scotland tickets for Hampden if we qualify for Euro 2028" presume the answer is No, so will be a scramble for tickets. 

If it's anything like WC 26 then heaven help us.

[Toepoke]

12 minutes ago, Silversand said:

Good question "Will everyone with an SSC membership get Scotland tickets for Hampden if we qualify for Euro 2028" presume the answer is No, so will be a scramble for tickets. 

If it's anything like WC 26 then heaven help us.

They won't, although it well be a better situation for the fans than this summer. UEFA were trolling FIFA with this announcement (like Infantino would have cared!)