Scotland Men's Football Team

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.

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We know Scotland fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland at Hampden on Tuesday, but how did their Euro 2024 group-stage opponents fare?

Germany backed up their impressive 2-0 win over France with a 2-1 triumph over the Netherlands.

The Dutch showed how clinical they can be in front of goal against Scotland last week, and they hit the front after just four minutes in Frankfurt through PSV midfielder Joey Veerman.

However, Maximilian Mittelstadt equalised for the hosts before Dortmund striker Niclas Fullkrug scored an 85th-minute winner.

In Dublin, former Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri's free-kick guided Switzerland to a 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland, while there was also victory for Hungary, who beat Kosovo 2-0 in Budapest.

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick, and is unquestionably the star man for Scotland's final Group A opponents.

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Captain Andy Robertson says Scotland want to continue to "change the narrative" at Euro 2024 this summer.

Robertson believes it was unusual for Scotland to qualify with games to spare and now they are targeting the country's first post-group appearance in a finals.

"We want to change another narrative of being able to try and get out the group at the Euros and if we do that then it'll be certainly one of the proudest things I've done in my career," the Liverpool left-back told BBC Sport.

"We've got players playing at the highest level.

"We have to keep pushing it, we have to keep pushing standards. If we continue that then I believe there's more to come."

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Liam Cooper says Scotland have to improve defensively after a "disappointing" international break concluded with a 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland at Hampden.

"We're disappointed," the Leeds United defender said. "This camp hasn't gone how we expected it to; we've got to get back to ourselves.

"That's [19] goals in seven games we've conceded, and that's not what we've prided ourselves on. We must be better in that aspect of the game.

"Northern Ireland sat in tonight, we've got to be patient and break teams [that do that] down."

Alasdair Lamont is joined by The Times’ Scottish football correspondent Michael Grant and former Scotland international Lee Miller to look back on Northern Ireland’s win at Hampden.

Where does the result leave the national team ahead of the Euros and what have we learned from a "frustrating" international break?

Listen to the episode in full here.

A statue of former Clydebank, Motherwell, Rangers and Scotland winger Davie Cooper in Hamilton has been restored, with former team-mates Derek Ferguson and Davie MacKinnon attending its renewal. (Sun), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip

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Scotland manager Steve Clarke tells BBC Scotland: "Northern Ireland did everything we expected them to do. They defended with their lives. They were good, we weren't quite good enough to break them down.

"I think a lot of the players tried to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. We just didn't create the clean-cut chance that would have got us back in the game. We huffed and puffed a bit, but it wasn't our night.

"It's obviously better if you're winning, but the key is to peak in June, not March. Hopefully we peak in June.

"It's been a long time since we've had as much possession as that. I'd be very surprised if we have a game like that in the finals in the summer.

"We had chances. You can't criticise them for trying. March hasn't been our best international camp."

On Andy Robertson, he said: "We'll assess him. He'll go back to his club and they'll assess him. Hopefully he's back soon."

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden

Even amid the boos at Hampden, most of the Tartan Army will find it difficult to be too hard on a team and manager who are comfortably the most successful Scotland team of the past 25 years.

But there are real concerns for Clarke, whose side look to have taken a backwards step after such a stellar qualifying campaign.

Friendlies or not, these games were vital if Scotland want to avoid a second straight disappointment at a second straight Euros.

The injury to Robertson is a obvious worry, but so is a serious lack of pace in attacking areas. Much is made of a lack of clinical edge from the strikers, but arguably just as glaring is a shortage of forwards who can stretch play.

As for Northern Ireland, they do not have a summer in Germany to look forward to, but their manager is demonstrating his credentials again as his second stint clicks into gear.

Bradley will be the poster boy for this young squad, but there is more than the Liverpool man to be inspired by in this team, who must now build on three very impressive results against Denmark, Romania and Scotland.

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Scotland "will stick together and remain positive" despite defeat to Northern Ireland extending their winless run to seven games, says centre-back Jack Hendry.

Hendry says the Scots endured "one of those nights" after failing to break down their visitors with over 80% possession and 14 shots at Hampden.

"These games happen," he added. "We won't dwell on it too long. We dominated the game possession wise, it was just unfortunate we couldn't break them down.

"Sometimes you have to give plaudits to the opposition and Northern Ireland defended really well. We'll stick together and remain positive.

"It says a lot about how successful we've been that the fans are disappointed with that result, we're extremely disappointed as well in the dressing room.

"We know the fans' frustration, we'll try and make them extremely proud in the summer. We've got a lot to look forward to and so do the fans."

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On a frustrating night for Scotland, midfielder Lewis Ferguson was a bright spark for Steve Clarke.

The Bologna midfielder replaced captain Andy Robertson in the first half of their defeat to Northern Ireland after the left-back suffered a suspected ankle injury.

Ferguson says it has been "difficult to get as many minutes" as he wants, but he is "always positive" about forcing his way into a "really strong" midfield.

"I always want to get on the pitch to show what I can do," the former Aberdeen midfielder added.

"Obviously it wasn't best circumstance with Robbo getting injured. When I get my chance, I've got to try and impress the manager."

Ferguson says he has "improved massively as a player and person" following his move to Bologna, but he isn't taking any notice of speculation linking him with a move away.