Scotland and Wales could go head-to-head for World Cup spot after play-off draw

Scotland and Wales will face each other for a spot at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar should they win their respective semi-final matches.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Scotland and Wales have been drawn in Path A of the 2022 World Cup play-offs meaning at least one of them will NOT be going to Qatar next year.

To set up a monumental ‘Battle of Britain’, which would take place in Cardiff with Wales being drawn as the home side, they must both win their respective semi-finals.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Steve Clarke’s Scots drew arguably one of the toughest unseeded sides in Ukraine while Wales will host Austria, who reached the play-offs via the Nations League path, in their semi-finals.

The two home nations last went head-to-head in 2013 and 2012 where Wales won both encounters 2-1 in World Cup 2014 qualifying.

Scotland and Wales last played each other in 2013Scotland and Wales last played each other in 2013
Scotland and Wales last played each other in 2013

The two nations have played each other 107 times (including friendlies), going back to 1876, and the Scots have the far better record with 61 wins to Wales’ 23 while there have been 23 draws.

The play-off semi-finals matches are set to take place on Thursday, March 24 2022 while the finals are due to be played just days later on Tuesday, March 29 2022.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Elsewhere in the play-off draw, one of the last two winners of the UEFA European Championships will NOT be at the World Cup finals after Portugal and Italy were drawn in the same path.

The semi-final matches are: Scotland v Ukraine and Wales v Austria (Path A), Russia v Poland and Sweden v Czech Republic (Path B), Italy v North Macedonia and Portugal v Turkey (Path C).

Of those 12 teams, only three will make it to the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.