SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell is confident Scotland’s players will be in perfect shape when their Euro 2024 opener against host nation Germany kicks off next summer – despite UEFA having to solve a conundrum he believes would leave former Countdown hostess Carol Vorderman stumped.
The governing body’s head of performance Graeme Jones has identified several potential hotels and training bases for the national team ahead of the finals and the tournament organisers have been made aware of what their preferences are.
Their preferred option is Garmisch Partenkirchen in Bavaria near the Austrian border.
Maxwell appreciates there will be several other participating nations who will want to stay in exactly the same locations and he confessed that he does not envy the task which his European counterparts will have determining where each country stays in the coming days.
However, he is optimistic that Steve Clarke will have the very best surroundings to prepare his players in ahead of the Group A matches against Germany in Munich on June 14, Switzerland in Cologne on June 19 and Hungary in Stuttgart on June 23.
“I think the happiest person in the draw room on Saturday was Graeme because he has been the one tasked with finding training facilities and base camps and all that,” he said.
“I think that, because of the group we are in and the position we are in, one or two that he eyed up will be achievable, depending on other things. But, of course, other countries will be thinking the same thing that we are.
“Where will we be based? That is one for Jonesy and the guys. I know they have follow-up meetings. It’s a complicated process because every team has been over and effectively ranked their training base camps depending on the area they would be drawn into.
“Every country ranks the training facilities that they have seen depending on the geographical region they are in. We could be ranked number for one hotel in the north but fourth for one in the south, for example.
“But it will always be one camp for the duration. We will just travel to and from matches as required. That may change, but that will be the plan at the moment. You don’t want to do too much travelling about.”
Maxwell is delighted that Scotland, who qualified automatically for the Euro 2024 finals after finished second in their section, have such a headache and admitted that he is looking forward to the finals in Germany every bit as much as any supporter.
“Absolutely it’s exciting,” he said. “It will be here before we know it, it always is. At the turn of the year the football season disappears from a club perspective and all our focus is going to be on making sure that we are as prepared as we can be.
“There is a huge amount of work to do. I know the guys back in the office will be hard at it on Monday to make sure it’s everything that everyone wants it to be. It is such an important event.”
Meanwhile, Maxwell has revealed that the SFA have had to abandon plans to play Switzerland in a pre-tournament friendly after being drawn to face Murat Yakin’s team in the group stages.
“In typical fashion, we had agreed with Switzerland that we would play them, but we will not be doing that now,” he said. “That is always the way it works. We will work that out over the coming days.
“Obviously, we have two in March and two in June, one home and one away in each. I’m sure the supporters will turn out to see the team in both those preparation matches.
“It’s vital that we get those lined up as the manager wants, in terms of standard of team and even thinking about the days that we play. He is quite keen to play with the same gap that we’re going to have at the Euros. If we can organise that, we will. Every bit of preparation we can do is important.”
Maxwell revealed that much of the money that the SFA will make from Scotland’s involvement at Euro 2024 will be spent covering the costs which will be accrued – but he pointed out that playing in the finals will have far-reaching benefits for the Scottish game.
“You get a €9.25m participation fee from UEFA, but there is a huge amount of costs,” he said. “There are a lot of costs involved in all the preparation, getting people back and forward, looking after the team.
“The finances is one thing. The more important thing is the engagement and the interest it will generate across the country because everybody will be talking about it.”
