Andy Robertson's potential World Cup opponents as Liverpool star captains Scotland

Scotland is back at the World Cup - but who will be joining the team in the festivities?

The Tartan Army are still reeling from a dramatic night under the Hampden lights - but can now begin to plan their journey across the pond after an evening filled with high drama. Last-minute goals from Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean were enough to secure Scotland's spot on the grand World Cup stage.

Scotland's captain is Liverpool star Andy Robertson, who is expected to lead the country at next year's tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The left-back was emotional after Tuesday's game and recalled a conversation with the late Diogo Jota.

Scotland is eagerly anticipating the World Cup draw on 5 December, with the seeding based on FIFA's world rankings, which will place Scotland in pot 3 for the revamped tournament.

It's a massive 48-team tournament, which means a staggering 12 groups in total participating in the action across North America. Four-team groups will remain. Teams from the same confederation, apart from UEFA, cannot be drawn in the same group.

The three hosts have been automatically placed in pot 1, and they've been joined by the next nine highest-ranked nations. Six teams had yet to confirm their spots at the tournament, with the playoffs set to run until next year.

Previously, the six play-off winners were automatically placed in pot four - but the UEFA teams, such as Italy and Denmark, are likely to have a higher world ranking than the automatic qualifiers. Instead, FIFA is set to use placeholders in pots this time around based on the world ranking of the teams involved in the playoff when the draw for the playoff is concluded on Thursday.

Football Rankings predicts that at least two nations emerging from the playoff rounds are likely to overtake Scotland in the seeding. In Europe, Italy and Denmark will discover their fate on Thursday, along with Ukraine, Turkey, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Sweden, North Macedonia, and Romania.

Jamaica, Iraq, DR Congo, New Caledonia, Suriname and Bolivia will also vie for one of the remaining spots in the new inter-confederation playoff. Due to their lower rankings, they will be placed in pot four - potentially setting up a clash with Clarke's squad.

Both sets of playoffs are scheduled for March 2026. While the exact dates for the inter-confederation playoffs are yet to be confirmed, the UEFA playoffs kick off with the semifinals on March 26 and wrap up with the finals on March 31.

Here are the projected pots as they currently stand, with Scotland ending its 28-year hiatus from the tournament...

POT 1: United States, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

POT 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Austria, UEFA playoff 1, UEFA playoff 2.

POT 3: Australia, Ecuador, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Panama, UEFA playoff 3, UEFA playoff 4.

POT 4: Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, New Zealand, South Africa, Curacao, Haiti, FIFA inter-confederation playoff 1, FIFA inter-confederation playoff 2.