UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier
Georgia v Scotland
Thursday, 16 November 2023 (kick-off 5pm - UK time)
Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi

Scotland head to Georgia in the first of the fixtures in the final international window of 2023 with qualification for UEFA EURO 2024 already secured, but with plenty of incentive to end the campaign on a high.

2023 has borne witness to unprecedented success for Scotland, with qualification for UEFA EURO 2024 secured last month with two games of the campaign to spare, but the entire squad will be eager to arrest a three-match losing streak and get back to winning ways as they seek to build momentum ahead of next summer’s finals in Germany.

Despite having only lost one of their last ten competitive fixtures – and despite all of their last three opponents being in the top ten of the FIFA World Rankings – Steve Clarke and his players will want to end the campaign with the two wins that would secure a second seed spot in next month’s draw for the tournament finals.

The squad have enjoyed a warm weather training camp in Türkiye this week before flying to Georgia for what will be Head Coach Steve Clarke’s 50th game in charge of the national team.

Since his first match in June 2019 against Cyprus, Clarke has won nearly 50 percent of his matches, racking up 24 victories, 10 draws and 15 defeats in the process of securing back-to-back EUROs qualifications.

Previous Meetings

Scotland have lost both times they have played in Georgia, with both defeats proving to be pivotal in the respective qualification campaigns at the time.

Scotland first played in Tbilisi in 2007, in what was also the penultimate match of the campaign.

Alex McLeish’s side entered that fixture with their confidence high, having beaten World Cup Finalist’s France both home and away in the campaign up to that point, but succumbed to a 2-0 defeat that meant they needed to beat World Champions Italy at Hampden in their final fixture o the campaign in order to qualify for UEFA EURO 2008.

A similar scenario played out in 2015, as Gordon Strachan’s Scotland side lost 1-0 in Tbilisi in their quest to qualify for UEFA EURO 2016.

Scotland captain Andy Robertson was a member of that side, along with current Assistant Coach James Morrison.

Team News

The fixture will see one of the goalkeepers in the squad given their first competitive start for Scotland, with regular number one Angus Gunn missing out due to injury.

Both Liam Kelly and Zander Clarke were given their first taste of international football against France in October, each playing a half against the World Cup finalists. Robby McCrorie has been called up in Gunn’s absence.

Kieran Tierney unfortunately misses out again, as do fellow full-backs Andy Robertson and Aaron Hickey. Anthony Ralston has been recalled to the squad, while Josh Doig was promoted from the Under-21s squad after impressing for Hellas Verona in Serie A.

Che Adams was forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury, with Hearts’ in-form striker Lawrence Shankland earning a spot on the flight to Türkiye after scoring five goals in his last five games.

Pre-match thoughts 

Scotland Assistant Coach John Carver: “We have qualified for the EUROs but that’s on the back-burner now. It’s about what we do now going forward.

“Going forward is taking care of these two games, because that sets us up for the EUROs and then we can take it from there.

“If we get the two wins we want, we will finish off this group the way we started it.

“We are not thinking that the work is done. It’s not done.

“The work starts now for the next campaign and the one after that.”

“Thankfully, I don’t think there is anybody in the squad who played in the previous two games (against Georgia), but they’ll have a point to prove.

“They are a good team. If you take out the games against us and Spain, then their recent form is really good.

“It will be an extremely difficult game. They will still have a chance of finishing third.”

Where to watch

The match will be broadcast live on ViaPlay Sports 1.