information on Brazil, Morocco & Haiti plus stadiums and rule changes

AFTER 28 years of international isolation, Scotland is back on the big stage.

Our thanks for it? A potential World Cup Group of Death.

Steve Clarke‘s men have been drawn against Brazil (for a FIFTH time), Morocco (again just like France 98) and Haiti, an underdog many fans will pick for their second team.

But everyone’s favourite group of fans is surely the Tartan Army.

And they won’t care who we’re playing in what will be the biggest – and perhaps the best – World Cup ever, with 48 teams competing in an expanded format for the first time.

Without further ado we can look at WHERE the team will be playing, WHEN you’ll want to tune in and WHAT you need to know about the tournament in general, including ticket prices, ticket availability and possible rule changes.

Dates and venues

Mark your diaries for June 13/14, June 19 and June 24 next year folks.

Those are the dates for Scotland‘s three group stage fixtures at the World Cup.

First up is Haiti on Saturday June 13/14 in Boston.

That opener will be played on June 13 in the States, but will be the following day for fans back home as kick off will be 2AM UK time on June 14.

Then on June 19 we will take on Morocco in Boston again.

We will round out the group against Brazil on June 24 in Miami.

All of these venues are on the east coast of the USA.

The expanded format means 48 teams will play in a grand total of 104 matches, spread across 16 different host cities.

Those other venues are: Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

It all kicks off at the iconic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 11 as host nation Mexico welcome South Africa in a repeat of the 2010 opener.

If we make it to the final (oi oi), it will be staged at Metlife Stadium on July 19.

Kick-off times and TV details

Even though Scotland will play all of their matches on the East COast, they have still managed to land not one, but three nightmare kick off times for fans back home.

Start times will be set at 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and 2am (BST) in a similar pattern to what was seen at the Club World Cup.

As aforementioned, Scotland’s opener against Haiti will be 2am UK time.

Both games against Morocco and Brazil will be scheduled for 11pm on their respective dates.

In terms of TV channels, broadcasting duties will be shared between ITV and the BBC and we will find out closer to the tournament who is screening which games live.

What else is new?

For the greatest-ever World Cup, we’re going to need a new all-singing, all-dancing ball aren’t we?

Adidas has unveiled the ‘Trionda’ which features a 500Hz motion sensor chip which delivers precise data to the video assistant referee (VAR) system in real time.

The ball will be the centre of attention of course and speaking of match officials, the referees will have some potential new rules to mull over.

IFAB has been pondering three big possible changes – but anything would need rubber-stamped at the next AGM in March 2026.

These include expanding the remit of VAR to consider second bookings and more ‘fact-based decisions’ such as wrongly awarded corners (the latter of which has already been discussed publicly by head of referees, Pierluigi Collina).

A third huge change would see penalties to be ruled ‘dead’ if a goalkeeper saves them – preventing the chance for rebounds.

On top of that, with three different host countries, we’ve got three different mascots.

They are Maple the Moose for Canada, Zayu the Jaguar for Mexico and Clutch the Bald Eagle for the USA.

It goes without saying they represent three animals with well-known ties to their respective countries.

Tickets

In case you missed it, tickets aren’t cheap.

And there aren’t many still available either.

An estimated 200,000 Scotland fans travelled to Germany for the Euros and we will see plenty cross the Atlantic next summer – not to mention the amount of expats already based over in the States.

Two chances to snap up tickets have already been and gone with the Visa Presale Draw and Early Ticket Draw.

But you can still get your hands on some briefs.

Still to come is the Random Selection Draw while thousands of tickets for each of our games will be allocated via the usual Scotland Supporters Club and the SFA.

Fifa will operate its own ticket transfer system to allow supporters with tickets who find that they can’t attend matches to sell them on to other interested fans.

As mentioned, prices have skyrocketed for match tickets, with many costing more than £1,000.

General admission ticket prices are split into four categories, with those for the first match in the USA costing between $560 (£417) and $2,235 (£1,662).

The cheapest ticket for the 2026 final costs $2,030 (£1,510), and the most expensive is $6,000 (£4,462) – with hospitality costs set to be even higher.

Only a tiny amount of tickets for matches early in the tournament can be available for as little as $60 (£44).

But here’s the stickler – most of those cheap seats have already GONE.

Here’s to travelling to the US and just having a good ol’ party, eh?

Who’s in our group?

We already know that our group stage opponents will be Brazil, Morocco and Haiti.

But want to know more about them?

Brazil are ranked fifth in the world and have won this competition more than anyone else but last did so in 2002.

Amongst their ranks are Real Madrid quartet Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Endrick and Eder Militao.

Morocco are 11th in the Fifa rankings and have stars like Achraf Hakimi, Youssef En-Nesyri and Brahim Diaz to call upon.

Not to mention a certain Hamza Igamane, once of Rangers.

Haiti don’t have many household names and are the minnows of the tournament with a world ranking of 84.

But striker Frantzdy Pierrot of AEK Athens has an impressive strike rate of 33 goals in 47 games and they have Premier League quality in the frame of midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, currently at Wolverhampton Wanderers.