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Scottish FA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell. Andrew Milligan
skepticism

Scottish FA say Euro play-offs 'unlikely' to go ahead in June

All the qualifiers, including Ireland’s clash with Slovakia, have been rescheduled for the summer.

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION chief executive Ian Maxwell is not convinced by Uefa’s plan to play the Euro 2021 play-offs in June this year.

Scotland’s play-off semi-final against Israel was set for 26 March, but the match has been postponed following a conference call between UEFA and the 55 member associations to discuss the suspension of football amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Uefa has rescheduled the games until early June, “subject to a review”, while postponing Euro 2020 until June and July in 2021.

A statement in conjunction with representatives from European leagues, players and clubs also made a commitment to complete all domestic and European club competitions by 30 June at the latest.

But Maxwell believes the aim is ambitious given tough social-distancing measures to control the spread of the deadly pandemic.

“I think it’s difficult to envisage a situation where the current situation clears up in time for us to play games in June,” Maxwell said in a video on the SFA’s Twitter account.

“Obviously there are a number of countries involved in the play-off, the virus is at various stages across the world and there may be some countries that see themselves coming out of that situation a little bit quicker than others.

“We will take advice from the medical teams and we will liaise with Uefa. Whether we can get the game played in June will be up for debate. We would love to think so but it’s probably unlikely at this point.”

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