With all of the home nations' football teams failing to qualify for next summer's Euro 2008 tournament, the UK's retail sector is expected to miss out on significant revenue, it has been claimed.
David Southwell, an independent retail consultant, said that such tournaments are a "marketing opportunity", particularly to supermarkets selling alcohol, the Scotsman reports.
However, with England failing to overcome Croatia in Wednesday's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all missing out as well, retailers are expected to be disappointed.
"There will be a lot of retail executives unhappy because the potential revenue and the boost that was expected, especially in 2008, which is expected to be a slow year for retailing, will now not happen," Mr Southwell told the newspaper.
Earlier in the month, Regent Inns, which owns the Walkabout chain of bars, said it remained "cautious" about the performance of entertainment bars due to "uncertainty" over England's chances of participating in Euro 2008.
