Scotland fans left in limbo over World Cup tickets hold-up

Scotland football fans say they have been left in limbo after failing to receive confirmation of whether they will get tickets for this summer's World Cup finals.

The men's national team will face Haiti and Morocco in Boston before taking on Brazil in Miami when they return to the tournament for the first time in 28 years.

Tens of thousands of members of the Tartan Army who applied for tickets were told to expect an email from football's governing body Fifa on Thursday.

But supporters' groups say fans have not received any official confirmation - and are now panicking they will miss out.

Hazel Stewart, from the Tartan Army Magazine, told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme: "The messaging we got from the SFA (Scottish Football Association) on Thursday was that emails would start popping into our inboxes and then we would find out if we were successful or not.

"That goes for both the Scottish Supporters' Club, which people could apply through, or the Fifa ballot which people used if they didn't get tickets through the SFA. But no-one has had any emails from Fifa.

"People are panicking and can't get into the Fifa website because it keeps crashing."

Fifa has already faced criticism over ticket prices for the finals, which will be staged from 11 June to 19 July in 16 cities across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Prices for the group games will range from £134 to £523.

The governing body also sparked outcry by confirming travelling fans will only receive a fraction of available tickets at the host stadiums.

Scotland have been allocated 3,889 tickets for the Haiti match on 13 June and the same number for the Morocco game on 19 June.

Both fixtures will be played in the 63,815 capacity Boston Stadium.

For the clash with five-time champions Brazil on 24 June, Scotland have been granted 3,736 tickets.

It will be played in the Miami stadium which has a capacity of 64,091.

Hazel Stewart said: "There was a link sent out for people to get into the Fifa website and see if they had tickets.

"Obviously some people weren't successful.

"However, everyone is worried that the link is not a formal one. So that's where the confusion is arising with people panicking.

"I went into the link and I've got all the tickets for myself that I applied for through the SFA.

"I'm just hoping and praying that is the actual outcome for me."

She added: "There has been all the excitement about people going back to the World Cup finals after 28 years and now there are people really gutted.

"We're in this position that we will have less than 4,000 fans there and we will all be dotted around in different sections and not together."

The SFA has said ticket pricing and allocation is a matter for Fifa.