The Scottish Football Association has welcomed the added opportunity for the national team to qualify for the European championships through Uefa’s new Nations League.
Europe’s 54 football nations have agreed a new competition structure which, from 2018, will be held on dates normally reserved for international friendlies.
Uefa members will be ranked into four divisions from autumn 2018 and each team will play two or three other nations on a home-and-away basis, with the winner of each mini-league going to a climax of semi-finals and final at a neutral venue.
The four division champions will qualify for the European finals while the other 20 qualifiers will come from more orthodox qualification groups.
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said: “It’s a great piece of news, particularly for some of the smaller countries across Uefa. It will be a better use of the friendly dates, potentially greater financial rewards and, probably more importantly for some of the smaller countries, it’s an opportunity for extra play-off and qualification places for the European finals themselves.”
There will be some friendly dates kept after the Nations League is introduced and the SFA is looking to utilise their upcoming opportunities to play challenge matches in the meantime – with a match against England at Hampden in the pipeline.
Regan said: “We are trying to put our own fixtures together for the next couple of years and we remain focused on putting good quality matches against as high-profile opposition as possible. We remain hopeful and are in discussions with England about a return fixture of the one we had not too long ago.”
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has given a cautious welcome to the Nations League. McInnes is all in favour of fewer meaningless international friendlies.
He said: “Any manager would say they’re happier when players are away on international duty for competitive games rather than friendly matches.
“Some players travel far and wide for friendly games which isn’t ideal as it means you don’t see them until 24 hours before a game. But I don’t know too much about it, so would have to see the detail first.”