History

Along with England, Scotland are the oldest international football team dating back to 1872. Before WWII, most of Scotland's matches came in the British Championships against the home nations, with games against other nations being a rarity. After WWII Scotland decided to take part in the World Cup for which they have qualified 9 times. They took part in their first European Championships in 1968, and have qualified for the finals on 2 occasions. This section gives a more detailed account of Scotland's history, including success, controversy, and failures.
Post-War Years (1946-1959)

The years following the Second World War which included the withdrawl from the 1950 World Cup Finals, Scotland playing in their first World Cup Finals, and The Munich Air Disaster that included the then Scotland Manager Matt Busby.

Famous Matches:

09/04/1949 England 1-3 Scotland

27/05/1950 France 0-1 Scotland

08/05/1957 Scotland 4-2 Spain

22/05/1957 W. Germany 1-3 Scotland

08/06/1958 Yugoslavia 1-1 Scotland

The 1960s

The decade during which Scotland failed to quallfy for any World Cup Finals. They were successful against England though as they defeated the Auld Enemy four times, including 1967 when they were World Champions.

Famous Matches:

14/04/1962 Scotland 2-0 England

06/04/1963 England 1-2 Scotland

13/06/1963 Spain 2-6 Scotland

09/11/1965 Scotland 1-0 Italy

15/04/1967 England 2-3 Scotland

The 1970s

The decade during which Scotland gained many fans after the 1974 World Cup Finals, and suffered heartbreak in Argentina '78. There were also some famous victories over England.

The Early 1980s

A period during which Scotland qualified for the 1982 and 1986 World Cup Finals. Tragedy also occured, with he death of Jock Stein.

The Andy Roxburgh Years (1986-1993)

An era during which Scotland qualified for the 1990 World Cup Finals, and also qualified for the European Championship finals for the first time in 1992.

Famous Matches:

08/03/1989 Scotland 2-0 France

15/11/1989 Scotland 1-1 Norway

28/03/1990 Scotland 1-0 Argentina

16/06/1990 Sweden 1-2 Scotland

18/06/1992 Scotland 3-0 CIS

The Craig Brown Years (1993-2001)

The era of arguably the greatest ever Scotland manager, who took Scotland to the Euro '96 Finals, followed by France '98. He was not as successful in the following two tournaments, but he did defeat England at Wembley in a Euro 2000 Play-Off.

Famous Matches:

16/08/1995 Scotland 1-0 Greece

18/06/1996 Scotland 1-0 Switzerland

02/04/1997 Scotland 2-0 Austria

10/06/1998 Brazil 2-1 Scotland

17/11/1999 England 0-1 Scotland

The Berti Vogts Years (2002-2004)

A dark time for Scotland when they dropped to 86 in the World Rankings under a foreign manager. The only high point in this era was a 1-0 victory over Holland in the Play-Offs.

Famous Matches:

07/06/2003 Scotland 1-1 Germany

11/10/2003 Scotland 1-0 Lithuania

15/11/2003 Scotland 1-0 Holland

The Smith & McLeish Years (2005-2007)

A renaissance period which saw Scotland recover from the brink of death to rise as high as 13th in the world. This included the Euro 2008 campaign in which Scotland defeated France home and away, and came so close to qualification.

Famous Matches:

07/09/2005 Norway 1-2 Scotland

02/09/2006 Scotland 6-0 Faroe Is.

07/10/2006 Scotland 1-0 France

12/09/2007 France 0-1 Scotland

13/10/2007 Scotland 3-1 Ukraine

The Burley & Levein Years (2008-2012)

A period full of controversy, from managerial appointments to players quitting, to players receiving lifetime bans. To make things worse, the results were poor on the pitch as Scotland failed to qualify for the World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 Finals.

Famous Matches:

12/10/2010 Scotland 2-3 Spain

09/02/2011 Scotland 3-0 N. Ireland

25/05/2011 Wales 1-3 Scotland

03/09/2011 Scotland 2-2 Czech Rep.

The Gordon Strachan Years (2013-2017)

A period where Scotland rose from 78th in the world to as high as 22nd in April 2014. This also contained Euro 2016 qualification, where Scotland came close to qualification in the "Group of Death", and World Cup 2018 qualification where Scotland were 1 goal away from the play-offs.

The Steve Clarke Renaissance (2018-2023)

The years where Scotland went through a renaissance, when Alex McLeish was appointed for a second time, before Steve Clarke took charge. This included the inaugral UEFA Nations League, where Scotland gained promotion and qualification to the Euro 2020 playoffs. From which they qualified for their first finals in 23 years. They missed out on World Cup qualification via the play-offs the following year, but qualified for the Euro 2024 finals.

Error
Whoops, looks like something went wrong.