SCOTLAND'S opening Euro 2020 opponents Czech Republic were at the centre of a row over Covid-19 protocols after they quit their accommodation in Scotland just two weeks before the Finals despite the Scottish Government insisting no procedures had changed.

The Czechs were due to base themselves at the Scottish football's own Oriam centre in Edinburgh, ahead of the first game against Scotland at Hampden two weeks today. They claimed that just one positive Covid test in their group would mean the entire team would have to quarantine because of 'Scotland's restrictions.'

Croatia, who are due to face the Czechs, Scotland and England, were also reportedly due to be set to pull out of their base at St Andrews for the same reason. And reports in the Czech Republic even suggested they would ask European football's governing body to consider moving the games from Hampden, although that's been dismissed as a non-starter by UEFA sources.

The Czech FA originally put out a Twitter statement that read: "The Czech national team will spend the whole Euro 2020 tournament in Prague instead of the basecamp in Edinburgh as it was planned originally. It's all due to the COVID-19 restrictions and rules in Scotland.

"One positively tested member of the team would mean the quarantine for the whole team as Scotland's restrictions say right now.

"It doesn't go along with the UEFA Return to Play Protocol. The Czech team has to negotiate accommodation, training pitch, and other logistic things."

Czech FA spokesman Petr Sedivy subsequently added last night: "The Czech national football team has moved its basecamp at the last minute due to the threat of quarantine for the entire team, even in the event of a single positive test for COVID-19.

"The other host countries will respect UEFA Return to Play Protocol."

However, their claims have baffled Scottish Government officials who point out that nothing has changed in their policy, with broadly the same quarantine rules in place in both Scotland and England.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have been quite clear that the public health measures in place in relation to COVID-19 apply to everyone in society equally.

"Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by Test and Protect and will be asked to pass on details of any close contacts, who will then be asked to self-isolate.”

Curiously, just last week Czech FA chairman Martin Malík complained that extra social distancing measures at their Oriam base would cost them an extra £135,000.

He said: "The UEFA return to play protocol states that the distances between individual players and members of the implementation team during joint activities such as food, various video analysis or tactical meetings must be one and a half metres.

"We inspected the hotel, set all the necessary parameters and then the Scottish side published its own conditions. And they say that the distances must be half a metre larger, ie two metres.

"For the Czech team, we had to agree with the hotel and provide additional space in the hotel. We had to buy them because the hotel had other activities contracted in these areas. There was no time or space to look for another hotel. Our costs have thus increased by approximately four million koruna." (£135,000).