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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

Scotland v Ukraine World Cup play-off in doubt as UEFA set for emergency meeting

Scotland's World Cup play-off semi-final next month has been thrown into major doubt amid the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Steve Clarke's side are due to host Ukraine at Hampden on Thursday, March 24 in their quest to qualify for the showpiece tournament in Qatar this winter.

But the game is now in jeopardy after Russia invaded Ukraine in the last 24 hours, firing missles at various locations across the country overnight.

And now UEFA, the game's governing body in Europe, will hold an extraordinary meeting tomorrow to discuss if the game can go ahead, as well as deciding where this season's Champions League final - due to to be held St Petersburg - will now take place.

Black smoke rose from an eastern Ukrainian military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv after Russia's attack today (AFP via Getty Images)

It was announced yesterday that domestic football in Ukraine will be postponed for at least 30 days, which would take them up to March 25, the day after the scheduled clash at Hampden.

It's also understood 16 players from the Ukranian national squad currently play football in their homeland in the Ukranian Premier League and that has cast major doubt that the squad will be able to fulfil the fixture.

Dynamo Kiev have nine players in the group.

(Daily Record)

On top of that, domestic football has been on a winter break since December 12 last year and was due to resume. The current situation would leave some Ukrainian players without a competitive game for almost four months going into the match with Scotland.

UEFA are holding their extraordinary meeting at 9am (GMT) tomorrow and the Tartan Army will be waiting with bated breath to see if the huge clash will go-ahead as scheduled.

A statement said: “Following the evolution of the situation between Russia and Ukraine in the past 24 hours, the Uefa president has decided to call an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee for Friday in order to evaluate the situation and take all necessary decisions”

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