Euro 2024 qualifiers today – your guide to Saturday’s matches

The giant air-conditioning units have only just finished whirring in Qatar but the grind towards the next major international tournament has already begun.

For the European nations that failed to succeed on the global stage and those that didn’t get anywhere near Lionel Messi’s Bisht, qualification for the 2024 European Championship kicks off this weekend.

Saturday’s round of qualifying matches has everything from lofty clashes between glittering casts and scraps among sides greater than the sum of their parts, as the continent begins its surge towards Germany in 15 months’ time.

Former Dundee forward Temur Ketsbaia joined Newcastle United in Steve Clarke’s final season as Chelsea in 1997/98. The pair never met on the pitch but they will go toe-to-toe in opposite dugouts this weekend.

Clarke agreed a contract extension with Scotland until 2026 on Friday, the day before the campaign to reach a second consecutive European Championship begins against Cyprus at Hampden Park; Scotland have not qualified for back-to-back Euros since reaching both editions held in the 1990s.

How to watch on TV

Armenia host Turkey in the visitors’ first international fixture since the destructive earthquakes in the region. Armenia’s boss Oleksandr Petrakov will know all about managing an international team in the midst of a crisis; the Ukrainian coach was in charge of his home nation when Russia invaded in February 2022.

Petrakov steered Ukraine past Scotland but couldn’t defeat Wales to reach the 2022 World Cup before joining Armenia – the last nation he beat as Ukraine manager – in January. Turkey also failed to progress beyond the playoffs for Qatar but have stuck with former Germany international Stefan Kuntz, who was brought in after the nation’s dire group-stage implosion at Euro 2020.

How to watch on TV

Russia have been banned from the qualification process for Euro 2024 given the nation’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Belarus have lent…