With the start of Euro 2024 less than a month away, Germany is gearing up for the arrival of one of the largest ‘Tartan Armies’ to ever travel to a competition. Although initial estimates place the predicted Scottish presence in Germany at about 100,000 fans, this has been dwarfed by the most recent estimate which predicts that a whopping 200,000 Scottish fans will head to Germany to support the Scottish squad.
To put this staggering number into perspective, one in every 25 Scottish people are expected to head to Germany and support the Scots playing on the field. In comparison, 300,000 English fans are expected to travel to Germany, which only equates to roughly one in every 190 English persons.
Although hundreds of thousands of fans are expected to make the journey to Germany, officially, only 10,000 fans will be able to get their hands on tickets to Euro 2024 opening night to cheer Scotland on from inside the stadium. In any case, many fans travel to simply soak up the incredible atmosphere and enjoy the German sun.
Scotland is set to open the European Championships by facing the host nation of Germany, on Friday 14 June. Scotland then take on Switzerland five days later (Wednesday 19 June) before facing Hungary on Sunday 23 June. This will conclude Scotland’s campaign in the group stages, and hopefully, the Scots will have collected enough points to progress to the next stage of the competition.
With Steve Clark having announced a 28 man provisional squad he will be taking to Germany, there is going to be two difficult conversations around 7th June when the final 26 names are confirmed.
Four Celts are included. There’s Callum McGregor who is essential in the middle of the park for club and country. James Forrest whose late season form got Steve Clarke’s attention and the experienced goalscoring Celtic winger could play a significant role getting Scotland out of the group stages for the first time ever.
Anthony Ralston who benefits from injuries to both Hickey and Patterson and could also get plenty of minutes in Germany. Then there’s Greg Taylor who is likely to make the squad but essentially be a back-up on the left hand side with Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney both fit.
Clarke has two pre-tournament friendly matches where Scotland face Gibraltar Monday 3rd June, and Finland on Friday 7th June and most players will be given minutes in these the warm-up matches. Steve Clark will then announce his final 26-man squad that he will be taking to Germany immediately after the Finland match.
Although the current odds for Scotland to win the competition are rather slim to say the least (80/1), the Scots will most certainly be competitive in Group A and could give something significant for the Tartan Army to cheer about, a first ever successful group campaign for Scotland at a major tournament.
How to get Euro 2024 tickets to attend matches in Germany this summer
