SCOTLAND could be in the frame for an invite to a World Cup losers alternative tournament suggested by the USA for nations that failed to make Russia 2018.
The US Soccer Federation is looking into the possibility of an event next year involving nations that did not qualify for the World Cup.
Scotland are among the list of nations that will not be at the World Cup alongside the USA, Italy, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Chile, Cameroon, Paraguay, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The USSF has confirmed it was exploring the idea after the United States was eliminated from World Cup contention when it lost 2-1 at Trinidad and Tobago last month.
The tournament idea, first suggested on social media, gained traction on Monday when former World Cup winners Italy were knocked out by Sweden and will not take part in football's premier event for the first time in six decades.
The US Soccer Federation is exploring the idea with Major League Soccer's marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing.
According to Forbes, the USSF will miss out on the £9.49m paid by Fifa for reaching Russia 2018.
The disaster comes after Fox Sports in the United States paid an astonishing $500 million for the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 events.
Meanwhile Fox Sports are estimated to have spent nearly £380 millon acquiring World Cup USA TV rights, which included next year's tournament.
Before America’s Russia 2018 hopes were dashed, Fox Sports president Eric Shanks joked America failing to qualify for FIFA’s showpiece “would (be) like $200 million flushed down the toilet”.
As Italy slumped to World Cup elimination many have been tossing around the idea of an alternative World Cup.
Some proposed a hypothetical, unlikely-to-actually-happen 16-team tournament.
Some US journalists were less than bothered about any Scotland participation, however.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel