Three days before England face Scotland in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley the women’s teams were drawn to meet each other on what will be an historic occasion at next year’s European Championship finals in the Netherlands.

In what will be the first match in a major competition for Scotland, Anna Signeul’s team will take on the auld enemy at Utrecht on 19 July at the same time that Group D’s other two teams, Spain and Portugal, play each other in Doetinchem.

“I hope that the Scotland men win on Friday, that would be very good,” Signeul said. The coach is Swedish but, after 11 years in charge of Scotland’s women, she is fully conversant with what these matches mean to players and fans alike. “I didn’t know how big the rivalry was when I came to Scotland in 2005,” she said, “but I sure do now!”

She found out in Nicosia in March 2011, when a 2-0 Cyprus Cup victory over England ended a run of 17 straight defeats over a span of 34 years. The players’ celebration at the final whistle told Signeul all she needed to know about Scotland-England encounters.

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“Playing against England inspires the players,” she said. “England are very difficult team but this game will bring out the very best in our players. They’ll show what big hearts they have and the pride that these derbies are so much about.

“It’s exciting, even more so because we play the first game against each other. Hopefully there will be supporters there from both countries, and we will do everything we can to go out and produce a good performance and result to start the tournament in the best way possible.”

Mark Sampson was not at the draw as he was at home awaiting the overdue birth of his first child. The England coach’s assistant, Marieanne Spacey, travelled to Rotterdam and was as exited about the draw as Signeul.

But while the Scotland coach is aiming for a quarter-final place at least at the 16-team tournament, Spacey is going for gold after seeing England win bronze at last year’s World Cup finals in Canada, six years after a silver at Euro 2009.

“My first emotion was excitement when I knew we would get Scotland in our first game,” Spacey said, “and I’m sure the players must feel the same. They play with and against the Scotland girls in the Super League, so there’ll be some friendly rivalry and banter leading up to the finals.

“The expectation on England has grown since World Cup and we’re embracing that expectation, because the girls really believe we can achieve something special at this tournament.”

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England and Scotland will be looking for pay-back against Spain, who beat Signeul’s team in the qualifying play-off final for Euro 2013 and then went on to beat England in the first group match at the tournament in Sweden.

“We won’t hark back, we’ll look forward,” Spacey said but Signeul will take a more heartfelt approach to meeting Spain. It was in the last few seconds of the play-off second leg that Scotland were beaten and the coach said: “It was the last kick of the game. I have never felt so physically sick. It was just like my heart broke – I couldn’t stand up. So it would be very nice to beat them.”

Portugal are the lowest ranked team at the tournament but Signeul said: “They are a good, technical team who could be very dangerous opponents.”

Euro 2017 fixtures

Group A Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway. Group B Germany, Sweden, Russia, Italy. Group C France, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland. Group D England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal.

Group stage: match one

Sunday 16 July Holland v Norway (Utrecht), Denmark v Belgium (Doetinchem)

Monday 17 July Germany v Sweden (Breda), Italy v Russia (Rotterdam)

Tuesday 18 July France v Iceland (Tilburg), Austria v Switzerland (Deventer)

Wednesday 19 July England v Scotland (Utrecht), Spain v Portugal (Doetinchem)

Match two

Thursday 20 July Holland v Denmark (Rotterdam), Norway v Belgium (Breda)

Friday 21 July Germany v Italy (Tilburg), Sweden v Russia (Deventer)

Saturday 22 July France v Austria (Utrecht), Iceland v Switzerland (Doetinchem)

Sunday 23 July England v Spain (Breda), Scotland v Portugal (Rotterdam)

Match three

Monday 24 July Belgium v Holland (Tilburg), Norway v Denmark (Deventer)

Tuesday 25 July Russia v Germany (Utrecht), Sweden v Italy (Doetinchem)

Wednesday 26 July Austria v France (Breda), Iceland v Austria (Rotterdam)

Thursday 27 July Portugal v England (Tilburg), Scotland v Spain (Deventer)

Quarter-finals: Saturday 29 July Winner A v Runner-up B (QF1, Doetinchem), Winner B v Runner-up A (QF2, Rotterdam)

Sunday 30 July Winner C v Runner-up D (QF3, Tilburg), Winner D v Runner-up C (QF4, Deventer)

Semi-finals: Thursday 3 August QF1 v QF4 (Enschede), QF2 v QF3 (Breda)

Final: Sunday 6 August (Enschede)