Scotland face anxious Euro 2028 qualification wait as UK and Ireland set to be announced as hosts

Scotland is set to be confirmed as joint Euro 2028 hosts along with the rest of the UK and Ireland this week with no other bids for the tournament.

But they still face a wait to find out if that will come with automatic qualification.

It’s a huge boost to the SFA with the competition following the success of last summer’s delayed Euro 2020 which hosted games at Hampden.

The deadline for nations to express an interest in hosting Euro 2028 is Wednesday but UEFA have currently received no rival bids.

And that gives the UK and Ireland a clear run at the tournament which will be held four years after Germany.

The hosts will be officially confirmed during a vote at UEFA’s Exco meeting on April 7 but it will be a formality unless any rivals emerge.

Italy looked set to bid but will now switch to Euro 2032 and Russia had to scrap their intention to host it following their invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey could yet mount a challenge although it’s looking unlikely and all that would remain for the UK and Ireland’s bid is proof of government funding later this year.

A total of 32 teams will participate UEFA said last October that only TWO would be exempt from qualification.

When it announced the bidding process for 2028 they said: “In order to ensure compatibility with the competition’s sporting and commercial format, the automatic qualification of the host team(s) shall be guaranteed only for a single host or a maximum of two joint host associations, as always implemented in the past.

“In case of more than two joint host associations, the automatic qualification of all the host teams cannot be guaranteed and shall be subject to a decision to be made in conjunction with decisions concerning the qualifying competition.”