Scotland's World Cup draw 2026: The delayed England date, no child picks this time and venues to avoid

Who do you wish to see Scotland lining up against next summer? Brazil, yet again? Perhaps Argentina, and the chance to see Lionel Messi taking on the Scots for the first and probably last time?

Or maybe England? A potential desert meeting in Qatar three years ago last week, due to be the first time the countries had ever met outside England and Scotland, was cancelled for unforeseen reasons. Well no, actually - one very predictable reason: Scotland didnae qualify.

For once, Scots aren’t forced to feign interest in a World Cup draw. Okay, so the last one, in April 2022, did prick some curiosity. Scotland were involved to the extent that they were one of three teams who might have played the United States, Iran and, yes, England. In the end, Wales enjoyed the honour.

Scotland, meanwhile, were left on the outside looking in. Yet again. Not this time, however. They are not represented by a placeholder, as was the case in Doha over three years ago: ‘Winner of European play-off’.

That’s us, that is. As it turned out, it wasn’t us. Ukraine put paid to Scotland’s hopes in a semi-final play-off. Now, for the first time since 5 December, 1997 in Marseille, there's a ball with Scotland’s name on it. A Saltire is on the board. Not only are Scotland at the party, they’re on the dancefloor.

When this last happened, ahead of France ’98, Ricky Martin was the guest star, which was reflective of the Puerto Rican musician’s status at the time. Not that relevance is a requirement given FIFA’s decision to invite the Village People to sing at Friday’s draw. They would have been regarded as a heritage act 27 years ago had they been asked to perform at Olympique de Marseille's Velodrome, where the draw for France ’98 took place on a Thursday night.

As a hors d’oeuvres, a European all-stars team took on a Rest of the World side, featuring Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistusta, the night before. Gordon Durie was the only Scot in the European team though he was announced as “Darren Jackson” when coming on as a second-half substitute. Craig Brown, the Scotland manager, looked on the following day as Scotland drew Brazil. Other than their two appearances at World Cups in the 1950s, in Switzerland and Sweden, Scotland have never not drawn Brazil when the tournament has been staged in Europe.

A child held Scotland’s fate in 1986

The last time Scotland were fully involved in a World Cup draw taking place in another continent, ahead of Mexico '86, their fate lay in the hands of a five-year old boy.

Luis Javier Barroso was his name. It might as well have been Damien, from the then still vaguely contemporary The Omen film, given the demonic delight he seemed to take in delivering Scotland into the ultimate Group of Death: Denmark, the coming team of Europe at the time, West Germany and Uruguay, the reigning South American champions. England? They got Poland, Morocco and Portugal. “While England can look forward to advancing to the knockout stage, Scotland can forget it,” wrote Harry Miller in the Daily Mirror, very perceptively as it turned out.

Young Master Barroso, grandson of Guillermo Canedo, president of the Mexican World Cup Organising committee, had done Scotland few favours. The idea that a FIFA bigwig might nowadays indulge in some nepotism and grant one of their own children the honour of conducting the draw is of course preposterous…Nothing as obvious as that. Instead, the favouritism is more insidious. World football’s governing body has already spelled out the greater degree of interference being employed to keep top-ranked countries apart. At every World Cup since the first one in 1930 it’s been customary to put one seed in each group.

However, seeds have never been kept apart at later stages too. Top seeds Argentina, Spain, France and England are unable to meet until the semi-finals providing they win their own groups. And even when the draw has been completed – make sure you clear the diary, it ain’t gonna be a swift process – fans will have to hold off pressing the button on hotel rooms.

FIFA have announced that another televised ceremony is required the following day to announce where and at what time the games will kick off. They say they need time to calculate the best location for matches based on time zones, with the potential TV audience in Europe and elsewhere the overriding (kerching) factor.

And this might indeed be the crux of things. It is not so much a matter of who Scotland play as where they play. Supporters will have a broad idea of the area come Friday evening. The 16 venues have been split into three regions: Western, Central and Eastern.

Given the varying conditions across these vast areas, and sometimes between cities in the same region, the group in which Scotland are placed is of potentially huge consequence. Take this from someone who lives very near one of the host cities, Los Angeles, and whose credibility is further enhanced by having played in all three games for Scotland at Mexico ’86. He also played club football for San Diego Clash and Kansas City Wizards.

Richard Gough knows as well as anyone just how physically exacting playing in high temperatures – and at high altitude - can be. Scotland’s opening match in Mexico was against Denmark. Although kicking-off at 4pm, it was still stiflingly hot in Nezahualcoyotl, which is just 45 miles from Mexico City. The Mexican capital is a host city next summer and, according to Gough, is one to avoid. As are Monterrey and Guadalajara, the two other Mexico venues and where excessive heat is even more of an issue.

“I remember playing the first game v Denmark, I was flying,” recalls the former Scotland skipper, who won 61 caps for his country. “I was maybe one of the fittest boys in the squad. I was playing right-back, up and down. I was fine in the first half. The second half I could not raise a leg! I was just drained.”

Now 63, he recently watched clips of Scotland’s second game v West Germany in Queretaro. “They were ahead of the game,” he says. “They were throwing water on to their guys in wee plastic bags. We were panting about.”

Scotland try to leave no stone unturned

Scotland will be better prepared this time. Manager Steve Clarke flew out for the draw on Thursday, along with Scottish Football chief executive Ian Maxwell and president Mike Mulraney. A supporting delegation, including assistant manager Steven Naismith, is primed to head to the relevant region once the draw is made to pick a training base from the approved list already selected by FIFA.

Gough is keeping his fingers crossed that an eclectic draw cast list including Rio Ferdinand, Tom Brady and Shaquille O’Neal can deposit Scotland in a group based in the Western region, where host cities include LA, Vancouver, Seattle and Vancouver. This would mean being in either group D – LA, Vancouver, San Francisco and Seattle – or group G, which has games in the same three cities minus Seattle.

“You can get a so-called ‘June Gloom’, which refers to a fog, especially in LA and San Francisco,” he says. “It’s a nice temperature, maybe around 20 degrees. It is not 30 degrees or above, like it can be in New York. All the games on the east coast have the potential to be terrible for the players, depending on what time they kick-off. If they do what they did last time and they kick-off for European viewers it means midday kick-offs in the middle of June.”

Gough is hoping Scotland come to him and play at least one game at LA’s SoFi stadium, which is where the United States will take on an opponent – could it be Scott McTominay and co? - in their opening match in Group D.

In what is effectively an indoor arena, conditions can be managed to suit. Traffic might be more of an issue. Just 90 miles north from Gough’s base in Encinitas, the drive to LA along the 405 freeway can still be torturous. “That’s why it’s called the 405 – it can take four or five hours at busy times!” he reports.

One journey Gough hopes he won’t have to negotiate is Texas, where he remembers playing in Dallas for San Jose in the late 1990s. Arlington, 25 miles from Dallas, will host nine matches, including a semi-final. “I was looking down the field and saw mirages at the other end it was so hot,” he recalls.

No such problems in Washington, DC on Friday night. That really is Scotland’s name in the hat.