The have played international
Football longer than any other nation in the world along with
England , whom they competed against in the world's first international football match at the
West Of Scotland Cricket Club ,
Partick , in
1872 . The match ended 0-0. (See Match Report
Here )
In recent years,
Scotland has become famous for its travelling support, known as the ''
Tartan Army '', which has won numerous awards from
FIFA and
UEFA for their combination of rabid support and friendly nature. The Tartan Army and the
Roligans of
Denmark are often considered the best national team fans in Europe, if not the world.
Scotland have managed to qualify for eight
World Cups - including 5 consecutive tournaments from 1974 to 1990 - but have somewhat remarkably never got past the first round. They have three times missed out on progressing to the second round on goal difference in
1974 when
Brazil edged them out, in
1978 when
The Netherlands progressed and also in
1982 when the
USSR went through.
Scotland's best well-known result was in
1967 , when they defeated the then
FIFA world champions
England 3-2 at
Wembley Stadium .
Scotland's first non-Scottish manager,
Berti Vogts , managed the side from February
2002 until his resignation
November 1 ,
2004 .
Tommy Burns was his assistant. On
December 2 ,
2004 the former
Rangers manager
Walter Smith was named as manager of the national team. Despite a brief revival of fortunes, their hopes of reaching the
2006 World Cup were ended after a defeat to Belarus at
Hampden Park .
Scotland play their competitive home matches at
Hampden Park as it has a capicity of 52,000 in
Glasgow , while friendly matches have on occasion been played elsewhere. Scotland are one of the few UEFA members that plays most of their matches in a city other than the capital.
- 1960 - ''Did not enter''
- 1964 - ''Did not enter''
- 1968 to 1988 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1992 - Round 1
- 1996 - Round 1
- 2000 - ''Did not qualify''
- 2004 - ''Did not qualify''
Note that from 1872 - 1954 the Scotland national team was appointed by an SFA selection committee.
¹ - Matt Busby was officially the Scotland Manager, but Trainer Dawson Walker was left in charge of the players due to the tragedy of the Munich Air Disaster in February 1958, in which Busby was seriously injured
Note that Matt Busby, Dawson Walker, John Prentice and Malcolm MacDonald are not included due to the fact that they were at the helm for a limited amount of time, therefore their ''Average Points'' would be unjust. The information is up-to-date as of and Average Points are calculated by using 3 points for a win and one for a draw.
- ¹ - Data includes both Jock Stein's periods as Manager (1965-1966 and 1978-1985)
¹ The player has at least 50 Scottish
Caps and is inducted into the
SFA International Roll Of Honour
