First Minister keen to make international games free-to-air

First Minister Humza Yousaf has vowed to step up efforts to make Scotland’s major men’s and women’s national football team qualifiers available for free-to-air broadcast.

The successful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign was aired by Viaplay, meaning many fans missed out on the heroics of Steve Clarke's side.

The launch of a consultation has been announced by the Scottish government, aimed at examining the case for the UK government to close a loophole that means Scotland's matches in major tournaments are on the list of matches protected for free-to-air broadcast but the qualifiers are not.

Yousaf said in a statement: “The Scottish Government is taking a further step towards making major Scotland international football matches available free-to-air, which would allow the whole country to get behind our national teams in important qualifying fixtures.

“Scots celebrated as our men’s national team charged their way on scintillating form into this year’s Euro Championships, and we’ll all be behind the women’s national team when their qualifiers get underway next month, but most Scots are blocked from watching the national team with the bulk of games shown on a pay-per-view basis.

“With so much at stake in qualifiers, our vision is for all fans to be able to watch their national teams as they battle to reach the world’s biggest competitions.

“With the full powers of independence, the Scottish government would have the power to determine the list of events that should be available to broadcast free-to-air to reflect the interests of Scottish audiences, and enable broadcasters who have a public service remit to better meet these needs.

“But broadcasting policy is currently reserved to the UK government, and only Westminster can add these matches being included in the so-called ‘crown jewels’ of international sporting fixtures for free-to-air broadcast.

“With the UK government refusing to act to resolve the situation for Scotland fans, the Scottish government will launch a consultation on the issue to help progress the campaign to ensure Scotland international qualifying matches are on terrestrial TV.

“Further evaluation work will be taken forward to understand the implications such a decision would have for rights holders, including the SFA, before the Scottish government’s case is brought forward to the UK government.”

The Scottish Government plans to publish further details on the consultation this summer.

Stve Clarke's men's side qualified for Euro 2024, but the qualifying campaign was not on a free-to-air channel