Scotland v Georgia: Desperation to finish the game revealed, SFA's £1.5m concern, player insurance issue

Scottish FA chief Ian Maxwell has revealed he was fielding calls from UEFA during the suspension of Scotland’s Euro 2024 qualifier with Georgia on Tuesday night.

The fixture at Hampden Park kicked off with Callum McGregor netting after six minutes but it didn’t last ten minutes, the decision was taken to suspend play due to the waterlogged pitch caused by the heavy rainfall in Glasgow. The game stopped for around 90 minutes with thwarted attempts to get going again as staff tried to clear the pitch.

Scotland eventually won 2-0, pushing them closer to Euro 2024, with the match not finishing until after 11pm. Georgia boss Willy Sagnol was critical of the game continuing but Maxwell explained why there was such a need for the game to be played to a finish that night, while admitting, with the benefit of hindsight, Hungarian referee Istvan Vad II “probably shouldn’t” have started the game when he did.

"We knew from a UEFA perspective they will want the game to go ahead,” he told BBC Sportscotland. “The phone calls I had for UEFA were saying we need to get this game finished. Under any circumstances, get the game played.

"There are daft things you don't think about, like Tuesday is the last day of the window. Wednesday is not actually an international window, so the players aren't insured on a Wednesday under the FIFA player protection insurance. So there are all sorts of other elements which factor into why they want to get the game started. There then becomes a bit of politics."

On Tuesday there was talk of the game being played at St Mirren’s SMiSA Stadium on Wednesday if the game had to be postponed and Hampden couldn't be used.

"St Mirren Park was a bit of a red herring, it would only have been played if Hampden wasn't playable. We were then thinking can we get fans into the game. If we can't get them back into the game, then do we have to refund £1.5m of tickets."

Scotland’s win over Georgia took the team onto 12 points in Group A and meant it was the first time in the national team’s history they started a qualifying campaign with four wins. It has been confirmed the October fixture with Spain will be played in Seville.