The Scottish Association have criticised their own women’s national team after the players publicly called out the FA’s ticketing policy.
Scotland are due to play Spain next Tuesday in a crucial qualifying match at Hampden Park, yet are only available for six sections of the stadium, a tiny amount of its 51,866 capacity.
These seats are already very close to selling out and with the SFA yet to announce if more will be put on sale, every player in the squad took to social media on Tuesday night, posting in a joint statement: ‘Following record attendances at recent women’s football matches, the SFA have only opened a fraction of a 50,000+ capacity Hampden Park.
‘How are we expected to grow the game when limited tickets are available for our supporters? Come on @ScotlandNT we can do better.’
Interest in the women’s game has grown significantly in recent years, with 91,553 spectators piling into the Camp Nou to watch Barcelona and Real Madrid last month, a new record attendance for the women’s club game, while this summers’ Euros in England is set to be the biggest yet.
But in a statement released on Wednesday, the SFA hit back at its players claiming that the ticketing process for the Spain match was no different to any other held in Scotland.
It read: ‘The ticketing sales process used at Hampden Park is identical to most across Scottish football, with tickets sold in blocks, in line with ongoing demand. This procedure is long-established for all events within our stadium – including the recent men’s UNICEF friendly against Poland – to optimise the atmosphere for each event.
‘The Scottish FA was therefore surprised by the flurry of identical social media posts from members of the Scotland Women’s National Team under the misapprehension that insufficient tickets are being sold.
‘Every seat in Hampden Park will be made available should the demand require it – and we urge football fans across the country to do their bit to support Pedro Martinez Losa and his team.
‘We hope the SWNT can refocus and inspire the nation against Spain on Tuesday.’
The SFA also went on to highlight their work in promoting the match, saying: ‘The Scottish FA has already gifted 2000 to local clubs to help cheer on the team. It is also worth pointing out that for this match, the Scottish FA has allocated the biggest marketing spend for a Scotland Women’s National Team game.
‘The staff who will work tirelessly until kick-off to promote the match have been hugely disappointed by the post, especially when the question could have been answered easily, and without negative headlines and ill-informed sharing.’
Scotland are currently second in their qualifying group behind Spain and will need to finish in the top two if they are to stand any chance of make next summer’s World Cup which will be held in Australia and New Zealand.
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