Scotland are set to play hardball with the Austrian FA over a plan to pull the plug on this month’s Hampden World Cup showdown.
Steve Clarke’s bid to qualify for Qatar 2022 is scheduled to kick-off against the Austrians at the national stadium on March 25 but the fixture is now in doubt because of coronavirus concerns.
Austria are considering lodging an official request with UEFA to move the match from Glasgow because a raft of Bundesliga based players - including Liverpool target Sasa Kalajdzic - will not be given permission by their clubs to make the trip.
But the SFA are adamant the game should go ahead as planned and will insist that Clarke and his players are not hamstrung by a sporting disadvantage if European football’s governing body does decide to intervene.
If, for example, UEFA opt to move the match to a neutral venue, Scotland will argue that the reverse fixture - which is due to be staged in Vienna in September - is also staged in a different country.
Austria could also ask for both fixtures to be flipped resulting in Clarke and his team being forced to open up the campaign away from home.
But that would mean the Austrians could be facing a sold out Hampden in September rather than taking on the Scots behind closed doors.
Star striker Kalajdzic - one of 18 German based players named in Franco Foda’s last squad - has become the first to rule himself out of making the trip after being told he will have to quarantine for a fortnight on his return to Stuttgart.
The 6ft 7in danger-man said: “I’m too valuable for my club to release me for the game with Scotland if it goes ahead as planned.
“They made it very clear to me that if the match doesn’t take place in a neutral venue they won’t let me go.”
Eintracht Frankfurt boss Adolf Hutter has also confirmed that neither Martin Hinteregger nor Stefan Ilsanker will be granted permission to travel.
Hutter said: “We won’t be releasing our players and as far as I am aware, most clubs in the Bundesliga will do the same.
“I don’t think it’s particularly intelligent that the games are played anywhere and the health of the players is the top priority for Eintracht Frankfurt.”
Austrian FA managing director Bernhard Neuhold said: “We are in close dialogue with the clubs concerned, who in turn are in contact with the respective health authorities.
“There are no hard and fast rules set by UEFA and FIFA about the rules for switching venues and we will shortly make a decision whether to request a neutral venue. We expect the venue for the Scotland game to be confirmed this week.
“If the game was switched to a neutral venue, the exchange of home rights is a theoretical possibility that we have not yet examined in detail.
“However, obviously if that happened and we had to give up the home tie later, it would leave us with a financial disadvantage.”
