Steve Clarke hails 'phenomenal' Euro 2024 qualification
Scotland have reached Germany with two games to spare
Last updated 16th Oct 2023
Steve Clarke has heaped praise on the Scotland players, staff and fans after securing qualification to Euro 2024.
Spain's 1-0 win over Norway on Sunday night secured their spot at Germany next summer.
It is the first time the national side have booked their place at a major tournament with two games left to spare.
Clarke thinks it is a huge achievement - but doesn't think it will sink in properly for quite a while yet.
He told the Scottish FA website: "I would like to congratulate the players for their efforts in qualifying for back-to-back tournaments.
"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 would also like to thank my backroom team for their support and, of course, the fans who have packed Hampden Park to capacity and made it a place to be feared once again.
"They have played a key part in our success, both home and away, and they can now look forward to making their plans for Germany - although I suspect many had done so before tonight.
"I said after Euro 2020 that we wanted to be serial qualifiers again and reaching successive finals shows the progress we've made. We will raise a glass to celebrate but then it's back to work in preparation for our friendly against France.
"Then we turn our attention to Georgia and Norway next month and finishing with as many points as we can."
Skipper Andy Robertson added: "It's a great achievement for this squad to have qualified for Euro 2024 with two games remaining. When we qualified via the play-offs last time, we set ourselves a target of doing it automatically next time - so that's the first 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.
"Our fans have been immense. We thank them for playing a huge part in our success and we look forward to seeing them in Germany in their tens of thousands."
--
Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.