Scotland have oldest squad at Euros as Clarke’s men come up short in other area

NO players in Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad are over the age of 32.

But even after omitting 41-year old keeper Craig Gordon from the final cut, Steve Clarke’s men are still the OLDEST group at this year’s finals in Germany.

Just nine of the 26 men representing the Tartan Army at the Euros are aged 30 or over.

But only TWO of Clarke‘s Euro heroes are under the age of 25 – and that’s enough to see the average age of our squad average out at 28.79 years old.

At 21, newly capped Tommy Conway is the youngest player in the Scotland squad with James Forrest, who turns 33 next month, the oldest.

Somewhat bizarrely, the opening match of the finals will see BOTH of the oldest squads at the finals going head-to-head.

Host nation Germany’s squad averages out at a very similar age to Scotland at 28.59 years.

The German squad is younger than ours despite the fact 38-year old Manuel Neuer as well as 34-year old legends Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos are all still kicking about.

Three 21-year olds and 20-year old Aleksandar Pavlovic help balance things out.

The numbers have been calculated by German outlet Kicker, who have taken a deep dive into the numbers behind the players representing the 24 nations at the finals.

One of those numbers shows how Scotland might be facing a sizable – literally – disadvantage.

And it’s something former national team boss Gordon Strachan noticed many years ago!

After drawing 2-2 away to Slovenia in a World Cup qualifier in 2017, Strachan bemoaned the fact his team were “genetically” behind.

In what sense?

Well, Strachan noted how his players were considerably SHORTER than their opponents that night.

And the numbers at the time showed that the Scotland XI that night were 3cm shorter than Slovenia’s imposing side.

Kicker’s number-crunching shows that height could once again be an issue for Scotland at the Euros.

In fact, we have the fifth shortest squad at the finals.

The Scots have an average height of 1.828m which equates to just over 5ft 11.

Not exactly ‘small’ in the grander scheme of things.

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But it’s a few centimetres shorter than the Euros’ tallest team, Serbia, who average 1.865m, or just over 6ft 1.

Germany have the third-tallest side at the finals, averaging just below 6ft 1, so their height advantage will certainly be something boss Clarke will be mindful of come Friday night’s gargantuan clash.

In terms of our other opponents, the Switzerland side comes in at just over 6ft and therefore a taller average than the Scots.

But Hungary are one of four nations with a SMALLER average height than Scotland.

Having said that, it is absolutely minimal at 1.827m (compared to Scotland’s 1.828m).

It’s Spain who have the smallest squad at this year’s tournament at 1.817m.

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