Hampden out of the race for Euro final

THE Scottish FA confirmed yesterday that it has withdrawn from the bidding to stage a European final in 2019.

Glasgow was in the running to host its first major football occasion in over a decade with a potential Europa League showpiece.

However, Uefa revealed on Wednesday that the SFA did not submit a formal bid after declaring interest. Hampden Park was put forward last February as a proposed venue for either the Europa League final or Super Cup final in two years’ time.

That would have seen the famous stadium stage its first European final since the Uefa Cup final in 2007 between Sevilla and Espanyol of Spain. Hampden also staged the 2002 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.

An SFA spokesman confirmed yesterday that Hampden will not be bidding for either of the 2019 Uefa finals but would not comment further. However, SportTimes understands that the SFA has decided to concentrate their efforts on two major events it has already been awarded.

Glasgow is one of the host cities for the finals of Euro 2020 and Scotland will also host the Uefa Women’s Under-19 Championship in 2019.

Hampden’s withdrawal leaves the way clear for Seville, Istanbul and Baku to fight it out for the Europa League prize. The Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, a 70,000 capacity venue, where Celtic played Shakhtar Karagandy in 2014 in a Champions League play-off, has been proposed as a final venue along with Sevilla’s Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (42,500) and Istanbul’s Besiktas Arena (43,500).

The absence of a European final is a further cloud on the horizon of Scotland’s national stadium. Hampden is no longer able to host the Champions League showpiece, because Uefa pushed up minimum capacity criteria for the final to 70,000 in 2007.

A bid had also been made to host the Women’s Champions League final in 2019 in Glasgow but that has also been shelved.