Borders footballer Lewis Gillie named in Scotland under-19 squad for European qualifiers
Borders footballer Lewis Gillie has been selected for the Scotland under-19 squad set to play three championship qualifiers later this month.
The Galashiels 17-year-old, currently on loan to William Hill Championship side Arbroath from Hibernian’s academy, is part of a squad of 20 tasked with trying to secure progress to next summer’s under-17 European championships in Czechia.
Manager Neil McFarlane’s young Scots will contest the first-round qualifiers’ league A following their table-topping performance at under-17 level a year ago, picking up seven points from three matches against Romania, North Macedonia and Liechtenstein.
Their spring schedule, to be played on home turf, consists of two matches at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium – against Italy next Wednesday, March 25, and Poland on Tuesday, March 31 – sandwiching a game against the Republic of Ireland at Kirkintilloch’s community sports stadium on Saturday, March 28, with kick-offs at 2pm, 3.30pm and 7pm respectively.
The top three teams in group A2 after this month’s matches will stay in league A for a second qualifying round later this year, with the team in fourth place dropping into league B.
This month’s hat-trick of games will be the under-19s’ first since they failed to make it to the elite round of 2026’s European championships in November.
Centre-back Gillie’s fellow squad members are his Hibs teammate Luke Davidson; Celtic’s Hayden Borland and Corey Shaw; Aston Villa’s Fletcher Boyd and Jack McGrath; Kilmarnock’s Cole Burke and Archie Traynor; Dundee United’s Kier Gilligan; Heart of Midlothian’s Euan Glasgow, Alfie Osbourne and Tommy North; Motherwell’s Zander McAllister; Rangers’ Aiden McCallion, Rydnn McGuire and Alexander Smith; Southampton’s Jake Vallance; and Aberdeen’s Lewis Carrol, Cooper Masson and Joseph Teasdale.