Scotland's qualifying win over Norway was shown on Viaplay Get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice Anas Sarwar has pledged to talk to Keir Starmer about making
Scotland men's
Football matches free-to-air if
Labour wins power at Westminster. The Scottish Labour leader said he supports having the matches on terrestrial TV. Broadcasting is a power reserved to Westminster - meaning MSPs have no role in regulating the industry. Sarwar said he had not raised the issue with
UK Labour leader Starmer but promised to "add it to the list". The Glasgow MSP also said he was currently "negotiating" with his family over going to
Germany to watch Scotland in the European Championships. It comes as the Scottish Government announced it was launching a consultation on making qualifying matches free-to-air. Scotland's qualifying matches are currently shown on Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay, which fans must pay to use.
England matches are shown on Channel 4 and ITV while Wales matches are shown on S4C. Sarwar was speaking on a visit to mental health charity Men Matter Scotland in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow on Monday morning. Read More Related Articles Humza Yousaf denies inaction on school violence after 53% rise in incidents Read More Related Articles Misogyny should be included in new hate crime law, says Anas Sarwar When asked by the Record if he believed Scotland matches should be shown on terrestrial TV, he said: "I agree with that. "I believe we should have the principle of our international matches being shown on free-to-air television. "The Euros is a good example. It's going to be on free-to-air television. There's going to be lots of people across Scotland watching, hopefully Scotland in the upset of all time beating Germany in the opening game of the championships on their own home turf. "That's going to be a great advert for Scotland and actually having free-to-air matches is really important. "It's something that I've spoken to the SFA about before. "So the short answer is yes, we support that principle, but we have to make a more attractive package for those broadcaster to say: 'we want to have those matches on our free-to-air'." When asked if he had spoken to Starmer about it, he said: "On free-to-air football matches? No, I've not spoken to him about free-to-air football matches yet but I'll be sure to add it to my list." When asked if he was going to Germany, he said: "That's currently being negotiated with my children and my missus. "If I get the slip from the family then I'll try my best to get to Germany." SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf announced earlier on Monday that a consultation will take place as part of making the case to the UK Government that Scotland games should be part of the list of those protected for free-to-air broadcast on terrestrial TV. Scottish politics Health boards blow millions on taxis Labour conference braced for
protests SNP lost thousands of members in 2023 Matheson urged to reject pay-out Yousaf said: “The Scottish Government is taking a further step towards making major Scotland international football matches available free to air, which would allow the whole country to get behind our national teams in important qualifying fixtures. “Scots celebrated as our men’s national team charged their way on scintillating form into this year’s Euro Championships and we’ll all be behind the women’s national team when their qualifiers get under way next month, but most Scots are blocked from watching the national team with the bulk of games shown on a pay-per-view basis. “With so much at stake in qualifiers, our vision is for all fans to be able to watch their national teams as they battle to reach the world’s biggest competitions.” Scotland's matches at the Euros will be shown on
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