Why will Scotland be playing Belarus in an empty Hungarian stadium?

Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Belarus on 8 September will take place at a neutral venue, but the Tartan Army will not be there to see it.

Uefa has confirmed the match will take place in the ZTE Arena in the Hungarian city of Zalaegerszeg.

So why are Belarus banned from staging home matches in their own country?

As a result of the support shown by Belarus to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were calls for a ban on their teams competing in Uefa competitions, as has been the case for all senior Russian teams since March 2022.

In March of that year, Uefa announced that all Belarusian clubs and national teams participating in their competitions would have to play their home matches at neutral venues and behind closed doors with no fans.

After the Uefa sanction was imposed, it was then up to the Belarussian FA to find a suitable stadium to host their matches. They chose Zalaegerszeg, around 227km from the Hungarian capital Budapest.

The ZTE Arena will also be used to host the World Cup qualifier between Belarus and Denmark in October, though the venue for Belarus v Greece in November is yet to be confirmed.

Belarus have played three matches in Zalaegerszeg since the ban was enforced. All three were in the Nations League last year and all three ended in draws – 0-0 against Bulgaria and Northern Ireland followed by a 1-1 draw with Luxembourg.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said playing at the ZTE Arena had "the feel of a fixture played during Covid" and because "there was no crowd it maybe lacked a little bit of intensity that there would normally have been".

The shutout of fans in Zalaegerszeg means the Tartan Army will only be able to follow their team in two away matches during the World Cup qualifying campaign – the group opener against Denmark in Copenhagen on 5 September and the penultimate match against Greece on 15 November.

"It's almost like the Scotland fans have been punished in some way," said John Bleasdale of The Tartan Army Magazine.

"But you could argue that the Belarusian fans have been punished for something outside their control as well.

"It's a real difficult situation where the fans have to lose, unfortunately.

"You want to see football played in front of supporters. No matter how hostile the crowd is, it adds to the atmosphere and it will be almost like a training ground environment.

"From a Scotland point of view, obviously the Scotland fans are like the 12th man. The Tartan Army, they give them a big lift. So that will be a blow.

"On the flip side, you could say they're not facing a hostile home crowd. The Belarusians are known for creating a hostile environment. So the fact they won't have that will probably be an advantage to us.

"When we played Serbia a few years ago, we actually thrived on no fans being there, so I think if anything, it could be a help, although it will be a shame that the Tartan Army can't be there."

All of Scotland's games in World Cup qualifying, including Belarus v Scotland, will be televised by the BBC and streamed on iPlayer.

These matches will also be covered on BBC Radio Scotland & Sounds, with Gaelic commentary of Scotland's home games also available on BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal.