John Swinney to attend Scotland's opening Euros match in Germany

JOHN Swinney is set to pause campaigning in the General Election in order to fly to Germany for Scotland’s opening match in the Euros.

Scotland are set to play host nation Germany in the opening match of the tournament on June 14.

When asked by the Scottish Sun if he would be attending the game, the First Minister confirmed that he would be in Munich cheering on Steve Clarke’s side.

“I will be at the opening match of the Euros – cheering on the Scotland boys alongside the Tartan Army,” he said.

Swinney will then head back to Scotland to resume campaigning.

The SNP’s leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn is also due to attend the opening match – although he had to cancel plans to watch all three group matches due to the calling of the General Election.

It comes after he was asked by ITV News presenter Anushka Asthana if he would be supporting England in the Euros “when Scotland is not playing”.

Flynn replied: “No”.

Following the interview, Flynn explained his reasoning.

“It’s my hobby to go and watch Scotland play,” he said.

“We’re rivals, I want to see Scotland do as well as we can in the Euros.”

Meanwhile, Labour leader Anas Sarwar has cancelled his plans to cheer on Scotland in the Euros.

Anas Sarwar has cancelled his plans to cheer on Scotland at the Euros in Germany (Image: PA)

Sarwar claimed he would be devoting his time to campaigning instead.

“Like thousands of fans, I was counting down the days to watch our team play in the Euros and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gutted to have to cancel,” he said.

“When it comes to the general election, I’m certainly not planning to be a spectator.

“I’ll be playing the match of my life over the next few weeks trying to boot these rotten Tories out of Westminster.”

When asked if he would be supporting England in the Euros, Sarwar said it would be “not a bad thing” if “the team next door does well”.

Rishi Sunak has called a General Election for July 4, one day before the Euro quarter finals are due to begin.

England are favourites to win the tournament, and some commentators have suggested Sunak may be hoping for a bounce in the polls thanks to the footballers' expected success.