Steve Clarke congratulates Scotland players for becoming ‘serial qualifiers’ after reaching Euro 2024

Spain’s win over Norway ensured Scotland will finish in the top two

Aadi Nair
Monday 16 October 2023 09:01 BST
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Scotland coach Steve Clarke hailed the progress his side have made after they secured a berth at next year’s European Championship with two games to spare.

Spain’s 1-0 win over Norway on Sunday ensured a top-two finish for Scotland in Group A, earning them automatic qualification for Euro 2024 in Germany.

Scotland have qualified for back-to-back European Championship finals for just the second time, after they played in the 1992 and 1996 editions of the tournament.

“I would like to congratulate the players for their efforts in qualifying for back-to-back tournaments,” Clarke said.

“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 said after Euro 2020 that we wanted to be serial qualifiers again and reaching successive Euro finals shows the progress we’ve made.”

Clarke said they would celebrate qualification before getting back to work with their preparations for Tuesday’s friendly against France.

“Then we turn our attention to Georgia and Norway next month and finishing with as many points as we can,” he added.

Captain Andy Robertson, who left the national team’s camp midway through the international break after picking up a shoulder injury in a 2-0 defeat to Spain, said it was “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,” the defender added.

Reuters

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in