SFA plans to sell alcohol to Tartan Army at Hampden in World Cup warm-up

The Scottish Football Association is planning to lift the alcohol ban at Hampden Park for at least one of Scotland’s final World Cup warm-up matches as part of a pilot scheme.

Steve Clarke’s side are set to face Japan at the National Stadium in March, before taking on Curacao at the same venue in May.

SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has told STV News that alcohol could be sold to fans at Scotland games as part of a trial similar to those that have taken place at some SPFL clubs this season.

Those games will form part of their preparations before heading over to North America to take on Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in the USA.

The structure is likely to follow similar pilots conducted at domestic games over the last year, which came amid a 45-year ban on alcohol being sold at football matches that has been in place since 1980.

At Euro 2020, Hampden Park was the only host stadium in the pan-European tournament where the sale of alcohol was not permitted.

Scotland clinched their place in the competition for the first time since 1998 when they defeated Denmark 4-2 in Glasgow.