Scotland have followed Wales in voicing their opposition to a combined British football team for the 2016 Rio Olympics as the dispute between the individual British associations intensifies.
On Tuesday, England’s controversial submission to the British Olympic Association for a unified GB prompted a furious reaction from the head of Welsh football who said his country had not been consulted in advance and been taken completely for granted.
Now the Scottish FA has jumped on board, fearing participation would threaten the country’s independent status within Fifa. “We have been consistently clear in our opposition to Team GB,” an SFA spokesperson said.
At the London Olympics in 2012, after a 52-year absence, Team GB entered both men’s and women’s football teams though no Scots were included in the former.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter revealed he spoke with all four British associations during last weekend’s International FA Board meeting in Belfast where the dispute first blew up.
“They are going to seek the same solution for the 2016 Games because they want to participate in soccer and if they want to take part they must abandon the national identification of the four associations [for the Olympics],” Blatter was quoted as saying on the fringes of the Conmebol congress in Paraguay.