Scotland Withdraws from Friendly Against Norway
The Scottish national football team has officially announced its withdrawal from a planned behind-closed-doors friendly match with Norway, which was set to take place on June 8th, just ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) has confirmed the cancellation of the match, with team members stating that Scotland’s decision was primarily due to injury concerns. Morten Morisbak Skjonsberg, the media manager for the NFF, commented on the situation, saying, “Today, we learned that Scotland unfortunately had to withdraw from the agreement due to injuries.”
As a result of this unexpected change, the Norwegian team will instead hold a training session in Greensboro. Norway’s head coach, Stale Solbakken, expressed that this cancellation would lead him to adjust his strategies for the forthcoming match against Morocco, emphasizing, “The cancellation means I will make more changes in our game against Morocco. The idea of playing Scotland was that we could get some minutes in the legs of the guys who don’t play in the Morocco game.”
This withdrawal follows recent injury developments within the Scottish squad, particularly the loss of key player Billy Gilmour, who had to exit the World Cup roster after sustaining an injury during a 4-1 victory over Curacao. However, manager Steve Clarke reassured fans that there were no new injury concerns stemming from their recent 4-0 win against Bolivia in their last friendly encounter before the World Cup.
