Minister's UK soccer team goal

Published on Saturday 14 June 2008 19:43

SPORTS Minister Andy Burnham has backed plans to create a British football team at the 2012 London Olympics.

Burnham said that just as the four Home Nations rugby teams competed together as the British Lions, the country's football nations should come together for a one-off when the games go to London in four years.

The move has been opposed by the Scottish FA, which fears the move would trigger calls from other smaller nations for Scotland to lose its status as a separate association.

Fifa, football's world governing body, has issued written guarantees declaring this would not happen, but football chiefs in Scotland are still wary.

Burnham said that while he understood people's sentiments about a united squad, there was strength in the argument for it to be a one-off when the event was held on British soil

He added: "We should all celebrate each other. There are occasions when we compete as Britain. In Rugby Union, it's Lions. In the Olympics, we compete as Britain. I think you could find a solution that preserves that individual identity and doesn't compromise the individual identify of the nations."

Officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have begun talks with the FA and the British Olympic Association to create a British football team.

Burnham – an avid Everton fan – backed Scot David Moyes to be the manager of the team.

Asked whether Sir Alex Ferguson should be in charge, he said: "I am perfectly comfortable with a Scotsman but I would say Moyes is your man."