Steve Clarke has praised his Scotland side after they qualified for Euro 2024 thanks to Norway’s 1-0 defeat against Spain in Oslo.
The result means Clarke’s men are guaranteed a top-two finish in Group A with two games to spare.
“I would like to congratulate the players for their efforts in qualifying for back-to-back tournaments,” said Clarke. “I’m not sure they will fully realise the significance of their achievement yet but to qualify for successive Euros after more than 20 years is phenomenal and testament to their hard work.
“I would also like to thank my backroom team for their support and, of course, the fans who have packed Hampden Park to capacity and made it a place to be feared once again. They have played a key part in our success, both home and away, and they can now look forward to making their plans for Germany – although I suspect many had done so before tonight.
“I said after Euro 2020 that we wanted to be serial qualifiers again and reaching successive Euro finals shows the progress we’ve made. We will raise a glass tonight to celebrate but then it’s back to work tomorrow in preparation for our friendly against France. Then we turn our attention to Georgia and Norway next month and finishing with as many points as we can.”
As the squad prepare to travel to Lille for Tuesday’s friendly, the captain, Andy Robertson, also expressed his delight at qualification. “It’s a great achievement for this squad to have qualified for Euro 2024 with two games remaining. When we qualified via the playoffs last time, we set ourselves a target of doing it automatically next time – so that’s the first mission accomplished.
“Euro 2020 was a great experience and the objective for us next summer is to build on that previous experience and improve on our last overall tournament performance. Our fans have been immense. We thank them for playing a huge part in our success and we look forward to seeing them in Germany in their tens of thousands.”
A Norway victory would have meant Scotland needed a point from their remaining matches, in Georgia and at home to Norway, next month. But a second-half goal from Spain’s Gavi meant the Scots were mathematically certain to be at next year’s championships in Germany.
Spain, who beat Scotland 2-0 in Seville last Thursday to avenge their defeat by the same scoreline at Hampden Park in March, also made sure of their qualification as they moved top of the group on goal difference.
They have two matches remaining, against Cyprus and Georgia.
