THE time has come for Scotland to go to another vote.
No fuss this time: the decision will be announced at luncthime today in Switzerland.
On this occasion, the issue is not independence but football. Inside the Espace Hippomene, a spick-and-span business and arts centre in Geneva, a delegation led by the Scottish Football Association will learn whether it has been successful in a bid to bring a slice of the Euro 2020 finals to Glasgow.
This different, slightly chaotic end to the historic tournament, with games to be scattered all over the continent, has attracted praise and criticism but the SFA decided long ago that Scotland should try to be part of it. A one-off, entirely revamped European Championship finals was a Michel Platini idea to mark the competition's 60th birthday. A "Euro for Europe" appealed to the UEFA president.
The concept has been warmly received because it broadens the base of hosts and will bring a major tournament to nations which have not previously experienced one. But the cost will be met by fans who will have to cover hundreds of air miles if they are to follow their team through a campaign, with no prior certainty of which country they will be in beyond the group fixtures.
It is nearly 20 years since Scotland reached the finals of the Euros. Gordon Strachan may end that sequence of failure by leading the team to Euro 2016 in France. If not, Scotland could be one of the hosts in 2020 without being guaranteed to be one of the finalists. With so many countries sharing host status it would be impossible for UEFA to confer automatic qualification on them. Scotland, like all the others, could be hosting a party having failed to secure their own invitation.
Still, first things first. The SFA wants to be one of 13 host associations staging games and has presented Hampden as a suitable venue for four fixtures. The bid has been a multi-agency venture involving the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, EventScotland and Hampden Park Ltd. Scotland is up against 18 other member associations and cities which submitted bids: Azerbaijan (Baku), Belarus (Minsk), Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Denmark (Copenhagen), England (London), Macedonia (Skopje), Germany (Munich), Hungary (Budapest), Israel (Jerusalem), Italy (Rome), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Republic of Ireland (Dublin), Romania (Bucharest), Russia (St Petersburg), Spain (Bilbao), Sweden (Stockholm) and Wales (Cardiff). All of those countries are bidding for packages to host three group matches and one knockout tie, either in the last 16 or quarter-finals. England and Germany are also bidding for semi-finals and final, which definitely will be at either Wembley or Allianz Arena.
A meeting was held among the UEFA executive committee members in Geneva last night. The bids have been distributed between six and eight geographical zones, a selection made by members whose own associations were not among the bidders. Regional zoning, with each having at least two venues, will ensure that matches take place all over Europe.
Those voting today will be Platini, his five vice-presidents and the 11 other members of the executive committee. They'll discuss the bids and vote at a meeting due to start at breakfast time. First, there will be a vote on whether England or Germany will host the final and semi-finals. Next, there will be the decision on which four associations/cities will each host one quarter-final and three group games each. Then, a similar vote on which will host one of the last-16 games and three group games in each geographical zone that had not yet been selected in the first two phases. Lastly, agreement will be reached on which countries will host one of the last-16 ties and three group matches.
The SFA hopes it has addressed issues raised by UEFA in its initial assessment of the bids, namely some questions over commercial aspects of games going ahead in Glasgow. The city's transport and hotel infrastructure was praised, though. The Hampden bid, backed by Sir Alex Ferguson this week, has lent heavily on history, playing on the old ground's celebrated previous European finals. There is a sense that committee members will be attracted to the idea of taking the finals into "new" territory - namely eastern Europe - but that political issues could work against the Russian and Israeli bids.
All will be clear soon. It won't be the biggest result of the day but it will matter to Scotland, nonetheless, and it will be announced at noon.
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