Soccer-England v Scotland international could return in 2010

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - The England-Scotland international could return to the soccer calendar in 2010, according to the Scottish FA's chief executive Gordon Smith.

Officials at the English FA and their Scottish counterparts in Glasgow are keen to revive the match, the oldest in world soccer, which was first played in Glasgow in 1872. The two FAs have been discussing the rebirth of the fixture for several years and Smith told reporters on Friday that he had had talks with the English association's chief executive Brian Barwick.

"We've had discussions about resurrecting the Scotland v England games and it's definitely back on," Smith said.

"It might be 2010 before we get a game. The idea would be to establish some sort of relationship for one-off games or even have them bi-annually."

Adrian Bevington, the English FA's director of communications, added: "There is certainly a desire on our part to find a suitable date to arrange a fixture with Scotland in the future.

"We were ready to host Scotland next month following previous positive conversations but unfortunately Scotland were unable to take up that fixture."

England and Scotland met 110 times between 1872 and 1999. England won 45 matches and Scotland 41, with 24 matches drawn.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)