There is some symmetry between these two sides regarding the first meeting on Tuesday.
Ivory Coast, ranked 35th, is five places above Scotland in the world rankings and is returning to the World Cup finals for the first time in 12 years.
With a capacity of 52,600, Hill Dickinson Stadium is just above Hampden’s 51,866.
Considering the distances involved for both sets of fans, will attendances approach this, or even the average of around 24,000 Ivory Coast usually attract to their games at the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium?
Scotland are no strangers to playing at neutral venues, having recently faced Gibraltar in Portugal, Ukraine in Poland and beating Belarus 2-0 in Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in September, all of which also changed due to Russia’s invasion.
However, the most famous may be the win over Wales in 1977.
Due to capacity restrictions and security concerns at other grounds, the match was moved to Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium – Wales’ first home match to be held outside the country since 1890.
An infamous handball from Joe Jordan earned Scotland a controversial penalty, with Don Mason slotting home the opener, before Kenny Dalglish’s late strike sent Scotland through to the final in Argentina rather than their thrashed hosts.
