Euro 2024: Scotland aim for knockout phase under Steve Clarke on second appearance in row
- Scots bowed out at group stage on return to the Euros in 2021, and have done so in all 11 of their major tournament appearances
Now that Scotland manager Steve Clarke has masterminded back-to-back European Championship appearances for his country for the first time since 1996, he will aim to go one step further and take them into the knockout stages for the first time.
Scotland kick off Euro 2024 against hosts Germany on June 14 before playing Switzerland and then Hungary in Group A.
The Scots returned to the big stage of international football at the previous Euros, having not appeared at a tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France. They have never made it out of the group stage in 11 major tournament appearances.
Fans are hopeful of a historic run this time, though, as Scotland were terrific in qualifying, losing only once to group winners Spain and reaching the finals with two games to spare.
“To qualify for successive Euros after more than 20 years is phenomenal and testament to their hard work,” Clarke said when Scotland clinched their spot back in October.
“I said after Euro 2020 that we wanted to be serial qualifiers again and reaching successive Euro finals [tournaments] shows the progress we’ve made.”
