Fotis Ioannidis
The first leg is scheduled for Thursday, March 20th, in Greece, followed by the return fixture at Hampden Park on Sunday, March 23rd.
Andy Robertson's dramatic injury-time winner against Poland in Warsaw secured Scotland's play-off spot, lifting them above their opponents into third place. The draw, conducted in Nyon, Switzerland, paired Scotland with Greece from a pool of four League B group runners-up.
Scotland manager Steve Clarke is bracing for a difficult challenge but is keen to maintain the team's recent positive form. "Greece has demonstrated their quality throughout the Nations League," Clarke acknowledged. "These will be very competitive games in March, but we're looking forward to them as we prepare for World Cup qualifying." He added, "We finished the Nations League campaign strongly, with good results against established top-level sides. The aim is to carry that autumn momentum into this play-off and next year's World Cup qualification campaign."
Historically, the two nations have only met twice during the UEFA EURO 1996 qualifying campaign, which Scotland ultimately qualified for. Both teams recorded 1-0 home victories. Greece won in Athens thanks to a 19th-minute penalty from Stratos Apostolakis, while Ally McCoist's 72nd-minute header at Hampden secured a vital win for Scotland. This goal marked McCoist's return to the Scotland squad after an 18-month absence following a broken leg sustained in a match against Portugal in 1993.
Greece narrowly missed automatic promotion to League A, finishing behind group winners England. Their impressive Nations League campaign included home and away wins against both Ireland and Finland and a 2-1 victory at Wembley. Their only defeat was a 3-0 loss to England in Athens.
Ticket details for the play-off matches will be announced in due course.
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