England’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland at Wembley will be held on a Friday night. The match will take place on Friday 11 November 2016, with a 7.45pm kick-off. The return match will take place at Hampden Park on Saturday 10 June 2017, with a kick-off time of 5pm.
England will begin their World Cup qualifying campaign away against Slovakia, with a home match against Malta and another trip to Slovenia before they meet Scotland. Scotland’s first qualifier will be away against Malta.
England played Scotland in a friendly last November, beating them 3-1 at Celtic Park on a Tuesday, with the match given the highest possible Uefa security rating.
Next year’s fixture is the first competitive meeting between the sides since a Euro 2000 play-off in 1999 where England won 2-1 on aggregate over two legs – there were 230 arrests after the second leg at Hampden Park following clashes in the stadium and Glasgow city centre.
Roy Hodgson said: “The Scotland fixture stands out as it’s the oldest rivalry among football nations and if the friendlies are anything to judge by they will be very exciting games, and very tense and intense. The atmosphere will be unbelievable.”
The England manager added: “If anyone wants to see what a really fanatic football atmosphere is like I would invite them to Wembley when we play Scotland or to the match up there and they will see what passionate football support is all about.”
England were top seeds in the draw and avoided both Italy and France among the second seeds - in fact they landed perhaps the easiest second seeds in the form of Slovakia, though Hodgson said they should not be underestimated.
“Slovakia are doing very well at the moment, came out of Pot 2 and that will be an interesting fixture for us as we haven’t played them for a while,” he said.
“When it comes to Slovenia and Lithuania we have very recent knowledge of playing them which I think is advantageous although having said that a year’s a long time in football and it could be a year and half before we play them and their teams could change enormously in that period of time.”
Home nations’ (and Republic of Ireland’s) fixtures in full
England
4 September 2016: (a) v Slovakia, 8 October: (h) v Malta, 11 October: (a) v Slovenia, 11 November: (h) v Scotland, 26 March 2017: (h) v Lithuania, 10 June: (a) v Scotland, 1 September: (a) v Malta, 4 September: (h) v Slovakia, 5 October: (h) v Slovenia, 8 October: (a) v Lithuania
Scotland
4 September 2016: (a) v Malta, 8 October: (h) v Lithuania, 11 October: (a) v Slovakia, 11 November: (a) v England, 26 March 2017: (h) v Slovenia, 10 June: (h) v England, 1 September: (a) v Lithuania, 4 September: (h) v Malta, 5 October: (h) v Slovakia, 8 October: (a) v Slovenia
Wales
5 September 2016: (h) v Moldova, 6 October: (a) v Austria, 9 October: (h) v Georgia, 12 November: (h) v Serbia, 24 March 2017: (a) v Republic of Ireland, 11 June: (a) v Serbia, 2 September: (h) v Austria, 5 September: (a) v Moldova, 6 October: (a) v Georgia, 9 October: (h) v Republic of Ireland
Northern Ireland
4 September 2016: (a) v Czech Republic, 8 October: (h) v San Marino, 11 October: (a) v Germany, 11 November: (h) v Azerbaijan, 26 March 2017: (h) v Norway, 10 June: (a) v Azerbaijan, 1 September: (a) v San Marino, 4 September: (h) v Czech Republic, 5 October: (h) v Germany, 8 October: (a) v Norway
Republic of Ireland
5 September 2016: (a) v Serbia, 6 October: (h) v Georgia, 9 October: (a) v Moldova, 12 November: (a) v Austria, 24 March 2017: (h) v Wales, 11 June: (h) v Austria, 2 September: (a) v Georgia, 5 September: (h) v Serbia, 6 October: (h) v Moldova, 9 October: (a) v Wales