Scotland hasn’t played a World Cup match since 1998. Haiti has never played one at all. On June 13, 2026, both of those streaks end simultaneously when the two sides meet in the Group C opener at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

A match 28 years in the making

Scotland’s last World Cup appearance was in France in 1998. The gap has been, to put it mildly, painful for Scottish football supporters.

Scotland’s qualifying campaign featured wins over Denmark and Greece. Haiti’s path is arguably even more remarkable. This will be the country’s first-ever World Cup appearance. The Caribbean side earned its spot through CONCACAF qualifying.

The two teams have never faced each other in a competitive fixture. Not once.

What the experts and oddsmakers think

Betting markets have Scotland priced at around 4/7 to win the match outright, translating to an implied probability of roughly 64%. Expert predictions have clustered around scorelines like 2-0 and 4-0 in Scotland’s favor, with the occasional 2-1 thrown in. Scotland sits approximately 40 places above Haiti in the FIFA world rankings.

Haiti posted a 4-0 win over New Zealand in a warm-up fixture but also dropped a 2-1 result to Peru. Scotland’s qualifying wins over Denmark and Greece included a Danish side that reached the Euro 2020 semifinals.

Why the venue matters

Gillette Stadium has a capacity of roughly 65,000 for football configurations. The 9:00 PM local kickoff time on June 13 puts the match in prime viewing hours for the East Coast audience.

The 2026 World Cup is being co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, making it the first tournament spread across three nations. Foxborough is one of 11 US venues.

What this means for the broader picture

The match also serves as an early test case for how the 2026 World Cup’s expanded 48-team format plays out in practice. Critics of the expansion have argued it would produce lopsided group-stage matches between established powers and tournament newcomers.

From a betting and prediction market perspective, the 4/7 odds on Scotland suggest there is limited value in backing the favorites unless combining them in accumulators. The more interesting markets might be around exact scorelines, where the spread between a 2-0 and a 4-0 offers meaningfully different payouts despite both falling under the Scotland win umbrella.