Scotland Nations League matches only available on YouTube

Scotland fans will only be able watch upcoming Nations League football matches against Croatia and Portugal on YouTube.

Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay holds the rights to all of the Scotland mens team’s competitive matches until 2028 – but last year decided to scale back its UK football operation.

The Nations League qualifying matches will now only be availble on the ViaPlay YouTube channel. They will have no comentary and be free to view.

Steve Clarke’s side faces Croatia in Zagreb on Saturday at 17:00 before taking on Portugal at Hampden on Tuesday at 19:45.

As well as the Scotland men’s matches, Viaplay held the rights to show the Scottish League Cup and URC rugby when it announced it would end all coverage of UK sports.

The Nordic media group then sold its UK sporting division back to Premier Sports earlier this year.

The transaction included its share of the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup, but did not include the rights to Uefa’s international competitions.

Viaplay sold the rights to Scotland’s last double header against Portugal and Poland to ITVX but has decided not to sell to another broadcaster for this round of fixtures.

BBC Scotland had been close to agreeing a deal on the last round of fixtures before a deal was struck with ITVX.

Viaplay declined to confirm if future matches would be sub-contracted to other broadcasters,

A spokesperson said: “The games will be made available on YouTube. As you might understand we cannot comment any further on any potential negotiations.”

The last time a Scotland match wasn’t available on linear television was a friendly match against Poland in 2014

Scotland’s housing minister Paul McLennan MSP, a member of the Tartan Army, said he was “concerned” about the matches not being shown on TV.

He said: “One of the big issues is making sure that the fans can watch Scotland on terrestrial TV as much as they possibly can.

“I get to as many home games as I can, get to some away games but actually watching Scotland is a really passionate time.

“People enjoy the passion of the commentary as well, so hopefully that will be addressed in games to come.”

Scotland are set to welcome Croatia to Hampden to 15 November before playing in Poland on 18 November.

BBC Scotland and ITV have been asked for comment.