Scotland national football team

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The Scotland national football team 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.[link], Match report

One of Scotland's most famous results occurred in 1967, when they defeated the then FIFA World Cup holders England 3-2 at Wembley Stadium. Some fans jovially claimed that this victory made Scotland the Unofficial World Champions.

In recent years, the Scottish team have become famous for their travelling support, known as the Tartan Army, who have won numerous awards from UEFA for their combination of rabid support and friendly nature.[link] , SFA website, Tartan Army Exhibition The Tartan Army and the roligans of Denmark are often considered amongst the world's best national team fans.

On May 13th 2006, Scotland won the Kirin Cup after beating Bulgaria 5-1 (with 2 goals each for Kris Boyd and Chris Burke on their debuts) and drawing 0-0 with Japan.[link], BBC Sport, 2006-13-05

Traditionally England have been Scotland's fiercest rivals.

Contents

1 Stadium
2 World Cup record
3 European Championship record
4 Current Scotland squad
5 Managers

5.1 List of Scotland Managers
5.2 Management Records

6 Famous players
7 Fifa Ranking
8 UK Team
9 See also
10 Notes
11 External links

Stadium

Scotland play their competitive home matches at Hampden Park (capacity 52,000) in Glasgow. Friendly matches are occasionally played elsewhere, often at Hibernian's Easter Road ground and Aberdeen's Pittodrie Stadium, so fans from the East and North of Scotland can make it to games. Scotland are one of the few UEFA members who play most of their matches in a city other than the capital. There have been a few instances where FIFA World Cup qualifying matches have been played outwith Hampden. Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium both hosted matches in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, due to a renovation of Hampden. Scotland will also play the Faroe Islands in their first Euro 2008 qualifier at Celtic Park.

World Cup record

Scotland have managed to qualify for eight World Cups — including 5 consecutive tournaments from 1974 to 1990 — but have never progressed past the first round. They have missed out on progressing to the second round three times on goal difference — in 1974, when Brazil edged them out, in 1978 when the Netherlands progressed and in 1982 when the USSR went through.

Year Result Wins Losses Draws Goals Scored Goals Against
1930 Did not enter
1934 Did not enter
1938 Did not enter
1950 Withdrew
1954 Round 1 0 2 0 0 8
1958 Round 1 0 2 1 4 6
1962 Did not qualify
1966 Did not qualify
1970 Did not qualify
1974 Round 1 1 0 2 3 1
1978 Round 1 1 1 1 5 6
1982 Round 1 1 1 1 8 8
1986 Round 1 0 2 1 1 3
1990 Round 1 1 2 0 2 3
1994 Did not qualify
1998 Round 1 0 2 1 2 6
2002 Did not qualify
2006 Did not qualify
Total 4 12 7 25 41

European Championship record

Year	Result	Wins	Losses	Draws	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1960	Did not qualify
1964	Did not qualify
1968	Did not qualify
1972	Did not qualify
1976	Did not qualify
1980	Did not qualify
1984	Did not qualify
1988	Did not qualify
1992	Round 1	1	2	0	3	3
1996	Round 1	1	1	1	1	2
2000	Did not qualify
2004	Did not qualify
Total		2	3	1	4	5

Current Scotland squad

Goalkeepers

Name	Date of Birth	Club	Caps	Debut
Craig Gordon	31.12.82	Heart of Midlothian	15	v Trinidad and Tobago, 30 May, 2004
David Marshall	05.03.85	Celtic	2	v Hungary, 18 August 2004
Neil Alexander	10.03.78		3	v Switzerland, 1 March 2006
Robert Douglas	24.04.72		19	v Nigeria, 17 April 2002

Defenders

Name	Date of Birth	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Steven Pressley	11.10.73	Heart of Midlothian	28	0	v France, 29 March 2000
Gary Caldwell	05.03.85	Celtic	20	1	v France, 27 March 2002
Andy Webster	23.04.82	Heart of Midlothian	22	1	v Austria, 30 April 2000
David Weir	10.05.70		48	1	v Wales, 27 May 1997
Jackie McNamara	24.10.73		30	0	v Latvia, 5 October 1996
Gary Naysmith	16.11.78		30	1	v Republic of Ireland, 30 May 2000
Russell Anderson	25.10.78		9	0	v Iceland, 12 October 2002
Steven Caldwell	12.09.80		9	0	v Poland, 25 April 2001
Graham Alexander	10.10.71		23	0	v Nigeria, 17 April 2002
Graeme Murty	13.11.74		3	0	v Wales, 18 February 2004
David McNamee	10.10.80		4	0	v Estonia, 27 May 2004
Christian Dailly	23.10.73		61	5	v Wales, 27 May 1997

Midfielders

Name	Date of Birth	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Barry Ferguson	02.02.78		33	2	v Lithuania, 5 September 1998
Nigel Quashie	20.07.78		12	1	v Estonia, 27 May 2004
Paul Hartley	10.03.78	Heart of Midlothian	7	1	v Italy, 26 March 2005
Darren Fletcher	01.02.84		23	3	v Norway, 20 August 2003
Scott Brown	25.06.85		1	0	v USA, 12 November 2005
Lee McCulloch	14.05.78		7	2	v Moldova, 13 October 2004
Ian Murray	20.03.81		6	0	v Canada, 15 October 2002
Gary Teale	21.07.78		3	0	v Switzerland, 1 March 2006
Scott Severin	15.02.79		13	0	v Latvia, 6 October 2001
Chris Burke	02.12.83		2	2	v Bulgaria, 11 May 2006
Gavin Rae	28.11.77		11	0	v Poland, 25 April 2001

Forwards

Name	Date of Birth	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Kenny Miller	23.12.79		26	7	v Poland, 25 April 2001
Garry O'Connor	07.05.83	Lokomotiv Moscow	7	1	v Nigeria, 17 April 2002
Craig Beattie	16.01.84		2	0	v Italy, 3 September 2005
Kris Boyd	18.08.83		2	2	v Bulgaria, 11 May 2006
Shaun Maloney	24.01.83		2	0	v Belarus, 8 October 2005
Derek Riordan	16.01.83		1	0	v Austria, 17 August 2005
James McFadden	14.04.83		27	9	v South Africa, 20 May 2002
Jamie Smith	20.11.80		2	0	v Republic of Ireland, 12 February 2003
Lee Miller	18.05.83		1	0	v Japan, 13 May 2006

Managers

Scotland's first foreign manager, Berti Vogts, was in charge of the side from February 2002 until his resignation on November 1st, 2004. Tommy Burns was his assistant and took over on an interim basis. On December 2, 2004 former Rangers boss Walter Smith was named as Vogts’ successor. Despite a brief revival of fortunes under Smith, hopes of reaching the 2006 World Cup were dashed after suffering a disappointing defeat against Belarus.

List of Scotland Managers

Note that from 1872 - 1954 the Scotland national team was appointed by an SFA selection committee.

Andy Beattie 1954
Dawson Walker 1958 ¹
Matt Busby 1958
Andy Beattie 1959-1960
Ian McColl 1960-1965
Jock Stein 1965-1966
John Prentice 1966
Malcolm MacDonald 1966-1967
Bobby Brown 1967-1971
Tommy Docherty 1971-1972
Willie Ormond 1973-1977
Ally McLeod 1977-1978
Jock Stein 1978-1985
Alex Ferguson 1985-1986
Andy Roxburgh 1986-1993
Craig Brown 1993-2001
Berti Vogts 2002-2004
Walter Smith 2004-Present

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

Management Records

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 03/03/06 and Average Points are calculated by using 3 points for a win and one for a draw.

Rank	Manager	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Average Points
1	SFA Select Committee	233	142	41	50	66.8%
2	Ian McColl	28	17	3	8	64.3%
3	Tommy Docherty	10	5	3	2	60.0%
4	Craig Brown	69	31	18	20	53.6%
5	Willie Ormond	38	18	7	13	53.5%
6	Ally McLeod	17	7	5	5	51.0%
7	Jock Stein¹	68	30	13	25	50.5%
8	Walter Smith	11	4	4	3	48.5%
9	Bobby Brown	30	11	9	10	46.7%
10	Andy Roxburgh	63	23	19	21	46.6%
11	Alex Ferguson	10	3	4	3	43.3%
12	Berti Vogts	32	9	7	16	35.4%
13	Andy Beattie	18	5	4	9	35.2%

¹ - Data includes both Jock Stein's periods as Manager (1965-1966 and 1978-1985)

Famous players

¹ The player has at least 50 Scottish caps and is inducted into the SFA International Roll of Honour

Fifa Ranking

Current Fifa Ranking

39 Republic of Ireland
40 Morocco
41 Scotland
42 Peru
43 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Current Fifa Ranking featuring UEFA members only

37 Bulgaria
39 Republic of Ireland
41 Scotland
43 Bosnia-Herzegovina
44 Slovakia

UK Team

It has been suggested for the 2012 London Olympics that a UK team be formed although so far the SFA has said it will refuse to participate in such a team. Because of the SFA's refusal the team may play with only players from the England and Nothern Ireland teams, although the Welsh FA are still considering their position. The SFA say that in participating in such a team may put pressure on them to to continue to participate in the UK team [rather than maintaining four separate teams of the UK] even though the head of FIFA Sepp Blatter has said this would not be the case.

Notes

External links

Football in the United Kingdom
National teams: England \| Scotland \| Wales \| Northern Ireland \| UK
UK-wide national team competitions: British Home Championship \| Rous Cup
UK-wide club competitions: Coronation Cup \| Texaco Cup \| Anglo-Scottish Cup
Football in... England \| Scotland \| Wales \| Northern Ireland

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Asia: AFC – Asian Cup

Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations

North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup

South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América

Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup

Europe: UEFA – European Championship