SFA and FA to disobey Fifa on poppy argument

SCOTLAND and England players will wear black armbands bearing poppies in their World Cup qualifier at Wembley on November 11.

The Scottish and English Football Associations decided to go ahead with the Armistice Day tribute despite the Fifa general secretary Fatma Samoura’s insistence that no exceptions would be made by the world governing body.

The game’s laws state that players’ equipment should not carry any commercial, political or religious messages and Fifa is standing its ground, with Samoura warning Theresa May not to interfere after the Prime Minister called its stance “utterly outrageous”.

The FA said it took its founding role on the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets the game’s laws, “extremely seriously” but disagreed with Fifa’s view that the poppy was political.

“The poppy is an important symbol of remembrance and we do not believe it represents a political, religious or commercial message, nor does it relate to any one historical event,” it said.

Soon after the FA’s statement was published the SFA confirmed its players would also wear armbands, as the two teams and Wales did during three November friendlies in 2011, that time with Fifa’s permission.

Wales, who host Serbia in Cardiff on November 12, have yet to announce if they too will ignore Fifa.

The Home Nations had hoped to persuade Samoura, who is in London for an IFAB meeting today, at a dinner on Wednesday evening.

Gordon Strachan reckons his Scotland side can still qualify for the World Cup.