Scotland Women have been drawn alongside England, Spain and Portugal at Euro 2017.
The draw which was made in Rotterdam last week has provided Scotland with a derby against England in the opening game of the group in Utrecht.
Following the draw, Anna Signeul said: “This is a great draw in terms of media attention and getting more people interested in the competition.
“To open our campaign against England is a big challenge. They are very good and have excellent players.
“Any team from pot 1 would have been tough and it’ll be motivating for the players to be drawn against our rivals.
“A lot of our players play in England and will be playing against their friends so that’ll be interesting.
“We’ll be underdogs but we can’t wait.
“Portugal are an up and coming side. We drew against them two years ago but it’ll be a match we’ll be targeting to win.
“Spain beat us in the play-offs a few years ago which was tough to take so we’ll be determined to get a positive result against them.
“It’s very exciting now the draw has been made and I hope the supporters travel in their numbers to support us, as I’m sure they will.”
Group D Opponents
England:
Pot 1
FIFA World Ranking: 5
Euro 2013: Group Stage
EURO best: Runners-up (1984 & 2009)
Spain:
Pot 2
FIFA World Ranking: 14
Euro 2013: Quarter-finals
EURO best: Semi-finals (1997)
Portugal:
Pot 4
FIFA World Ranking: 40
Euro 2013: Did not qualify
EURO best: Debut
Scotland Euro 2017 fixtures – kick-off times tbc
Group stage:
Wednesday 19 July: England v Scotland (Utrecht)
Sunday 23 July: Scotland v Portugal (Rotterdam)
Thursday 27 July: Scotland v Spain (Deventer)
Tickets are on sale via UEFA: http://www.weuro2017.nl/en/ticket-service
Full Draw
Group A: Netherlands (hosts), Norway, Denmark, Belgium
Group B: Germany (holders), Sweden, Italy, Russia
Group C: France, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland
Group D: England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
