FIFA are considering an amnesty for all yellow cards received by players during the regular qualifying section for next year’s World Cup in Qatar in a move that could provide a significant boost to Scotland’s chances of reaching the showpiece tournament.
Steve Clarke guided the national team to a second-place finish in Group F and secured Scotland’s seeding for next week’s play-off draw, but a host of important players are walking a disciplinary tightrope and are just one booking away from receiving a one-match suspension.
Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Che Adams, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Jack Hendry, Kevin Nisbet and Stephen O’Donnell are all one yellow card away from a ban, meaning if they collected a booking and Scotland won their play-off semi-final at Hampden, they would miss out on the final qualifying match.
However, with a total of 107 players from the 12 teams involved in the play-offs in the same situation, FIFA are understood to be considering wiping the disciplinary slate clean for the final round of qualifying.
UEFA must formally request the game’s governing body to make the change but will canvas the opinions of the 12 countries involved first.
A spokesman for UEFA said: “Some national associations qualified for the FIFA World Cup play-offs raised the issue.
“This is a FIFA competition and they decide on regulations. UEFA will collect the opinion of the 12 associations participating in the FIFA play-offs and will pass this information onto FIFA.”
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