Government minister Jim Murphy said he's received "reassurances" from FIFA that a joint UK team at London's 2012 Olympics would not threaten Scotland's footballing independence. However, this assurance over the independence of the four home nations has failed to soften the SFA's stance to a British Olympic team.

An SFA spokesman said: "We have to take decisions on this issue, based on what is right for Scottish football.

"While we would welcome any statement from FIFA, we have to be clear that FIFA is an organisation made up of its members - and it is their views on the precedent that a Team GB would set that are so important in this issue.

"We await with interest the outcome of FIFA's deliberations next month but we must be clear on this.

"We will not do anything that we feel would jeopardise our status as a footballing nation in our own right. At this stage, we feel that a Team GB does just that.

"At some point, there is a real danger that a precedent of a Team GB will come back and threaten our status as a separate nation."