Scottish National Football Team / European Championships

Scotland
Scotland
Alba [ ˈaləpə ] ( gäl. )

European Championship record scorer:	4 players (1 each)
European Championship record players:	Andy Goram , Gary McAllister , Stuart McCall (6 each)
Rank:	24
Balance sheet
6 European Championship games 2 wins 1 draw 3 defeats 4: 5 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Scotland 0: 1 Netherlands Gothenburg ( SWE ); June 12, 1992
Biggest European Championship victory Scotland 3-0 CIS Norrköping ( SWE ); June 18, 1992
Biggest European Championship defeats Scotland 0-2 Germany Norrköping ( SWE ); June 15, 1992 Scotland 0-2 England London ( ENG ); June 15, 1996
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	2 ( first : 1992 )
Best results	Preliminary round (1992, 1996)
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held
(As of November 2019)

The article contains a detailed description of the Scottish national football team at European championships . Scotland qualified for the European Championship in 1992 for the first time and then again four years later. After that, Scotland failed again and again in the qualification.

Overview

Scotland have reached the finals twice so far, once with eight and once with 16 participants.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not participated
1964	Spain	not participated
1968	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification , which was held at the same time as the British Home Championship , failed at the later third England .
1972	Belgium	not qualified				In qualifying later in the Third Belgium failed.
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain failed, but that also did not reach the final round.
1980	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification failed again on the later European runner-up Belgium .
1984	France	not qualified				Again in the qualification failed to Vice European Champion Belgium .
1988	BR Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of Ireland failed.
1992	Sweden	Preliminary round	Germany , CIS , Netherlands	-	Andy Roxburgh	After defeats against defending champions Netherlands and world champions Germany as well as a victory against the CIS, retired as third in the group.
1996	England	Preliminary round	England , Netherlands , Switzerland	-	Craig Brown	After a win against Switzerland, a draw against the Netherlands and a defeat against hosts England, they were eliminated as third in the group
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified				Failed in the relegation games to England .
2004	Portugal	not qualified				Failed in the relegation games to the Netherlands .
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified				In the qualification to the finalists of the 2006 FIFA World Cup France and Italy failed.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified				In the qualification of defending champion and world champions Spain and Czech Republic failed.
2016	France	not qualified				In the qualification , Scotland met Germany , Ireland , Poland , Georgia and Gibraltar . With a 2-2 draw against Poland on the penultimate match day, Scotland missed the qualification as Ireland beat Germany at the same time.
2021	Europe					With Hampden Park, Scotland provides a venue for three group matches and a round of 16 or quarter-finals, but has to qualify for the European Championship like all other UEFA members.

The tournaments

EM 1960 and 1964

The SFA had not reported its national team for the European football championships in 1960 and 1964, which were still held as the "European Cup of Nations" .

EM 1968

In 1968 Scotland wanted to participate for the first time and had to deal with the three other British teams in the British Home Championship , which also served as European Championship qualification . The game against Wales on October 22, 1966 in Cardiff was then the first European Championship qualifier for the Scots, trained by Malky MacDonald , for which Denis Law scored the first European Championship qualifying goal. With the draw, the Scots had almost missed the qualification, because in the end they had one point less than world champions England , who then also reached the finals and came third there.

European Championship 1972

In qualifying for the European Championship finals in 1972, Scotland, which was now coached by Bobby Brown , then had to face Belgium , Portugal and Denmark . The Scots could only win their home games, but lost all away games and only finished third in the end. Brown then resigned from the office of national coach and retired from the football business. He was succeeded by Willie Ormond , who managed to lead Scotland to the World Cup two years later . Group winners Belgium eliminated runner -up world champions Italy in the semi -finals and were allowed to host the European Championship finals, but only finished third there.

EM 1976

In 1976 the final round was held for the last time with four teams. Scotland, which in the 1974 World Cup was retired undefeated in the group stage, finished second in the qualifying Group 4 behind Spain and the tied Romanians against Denmark again only room 3. Ormond after initially remained in office, but was in the running to qualify for the 1978 World Cup of Ally MacLeod replaced, who was no longer in office after being eliminated in the preliminary round of the World Cup in the following European Championship qualification. Group winners Spain then failed in the quarter-finals to defending champion and world champion Germany , who reached the final again in the finals, but lost on penalties to Czechoslovakia .

EM 1980

For the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Scots, who were now trained by Jock Stein , had to compete against Belgium, Austria , Portugal and Norway in the qualification . Scotland only finished fourth, five points behind group winners Belgium. The Belgians were then runner-up in the finals. Jock Stein stayed in office and led the Scots to the 1982 World Cup .

EM 1984

In qualifying for the European Championship in France, Belgium was again the main opponent, as was Switzerland and the GDR . Scotland could only win the home game against the GDR and was bottom of the group. Group winners were again the Belgians, but they failed in France in the group stage. Jock Stein remained in office, but died in the last game of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup , in which Scotland qualified for the World Cup, due to a heart attack in the coaching bench.

EM 1988

In qualifying for the European Championship in Germany, the Scots, trained by Andy Roxburgh since 1986 , again met Belgium, Ireland , Bulgaria and Luxembourg . In a very even group, in which only Luxembourg did not win a game, the Scots started with two goalless draws against Bulgaria and Ireland. They then won against Luxembourg, but after a home loss to Ireland and a loss in Belgium they were out of the running. In the end, however, with a home win against Belgium and a win in Bulgaria they were able to help Ireland reach the European Championship finals for the first time, as the Irish were group winners with one point ahead of Bulgaria. In the final round, despite a victory against England, Ireland failed in the group stage against eventual European champions Netherlands . Roxburgh remained in office and led Scotland to the 1990 World Cup .

EM 1992

The qualification for the European Championship in 1992 finally brought the desired success. Against Bulgaria, Switzerland , Romania and San Marino , which participated for the first time, the Scots prevailed as group winners. In this balanced group they only lost in Romania. At the finals, they met defending champions Netherlands in their first European Championship final match and lost 1-0. The second game against world champions Germany was lost, this time with 0: 2. With that they no longer had a chance to reach the semifinals. In the last game against the CIS they managed a 3-0 win, which meant that Germany, which had lost in the parallel game against the Netherlands, was able to advance to the semi-finals. Roxburgh initially stayed in office, but after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup , Craig Brown followed him .

EM 1996

Scene from the game against the Netherlands

For Euro 1996, which was first staged with 16 teams, the Scots had in a group with Russia , Greece , Finland , the Faroe Islands and San Marino qualify . Scotland lost only in Greece, but drew twice against Russia and finished second behind the Russians. As the fourth-best runner-up in the group, they qualified directly for the final round.

At the finals, the Scots were drawn into a group with hosts England, former European champions Netherlands and EM newcomer Switzerland . Again they met the Netherlands in their first group game, but this time they fought for a goalless draw. In the second game, however, they lost the prestige duel against England 2-0. And again they won the last game, this time against Switzerland 1-0. With that they were equal on points and goal difference with the Dutch, but since they had scored fewer goals, they were eliminated as third party and left the European Championship stage for at least 20 years.

EM 2000

For Euro 2000, Scotland had against European runners-up the Czech Republic , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Lithuania , Estonia and the Faroe Islands qualify . Scotland finished in second place behind the Czechs, 12 points behind, and had to make it into the playoffs of the group runners-up. Here they were drawn from England and after a 2-0 home game, the 1-0 win in London was not enough to reach the finals. Craig Brown initially remained national coach, but after he failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup , he was dismissed.

EM 2004

In qualifying for the 2004 European Championships, Scotland, which has been trained by the German Berti Vogts since March 1, 2002 and thus for the first time by a foreigner, met vice world champions Germany , Iceland , Lithuania and again the Faroe Islands. Scotland started 2-2 to the Faroe Islands, then won both games against Iceland but lost their next game in Lithuania. In the home game against Germany it was only enough to score 1: 1 and in Germany the decisive game for the group victory was ultimately lost 2: 1. As runners-up in the group, they then had to go to the play-offs against the Netherlands. After a 1-0 home game, they lost the second leg 6-0. Vogts initially remained in office, but after a bad start in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup , he resigned on November 1, 2004.

EM 2008

Scotland and Ireland also applied to host the 2008 European Championship, but lost to the joint application from Austria and Switzerland. Scotland, which has now been trained by a Scotsman - Walter Smith - therefore had to qualify in sports, which again failed. Smith also gave up his position as national coach during the ongoing qualification and became coach of the Glasgow Rangers . He was succeeded by Alex McLeish in early 2007 . In a qualifying group with the finalists of the 2006 World Cup, France and Italy , they only finished third behind them, ahead of Ukraine , Lithuania, Georgia and the Faroe Islands. They were able to win both games against France, but lost both games against world champions Italy. The last home game against Italy was decisive, because a win would have qualified the Scots for the European Championship. McLeish moved to the English Premier League club Birmingham City after missing qualification , his successor being George Burley , who did not manage to lead Scotland to the 2010 World Cup , which led to his dismissal.

EM 2012

For the EM 2012, the Scots, now trained by Craig Levein , had to compete against defending champions and world champions Spain , the Czech Republic , Lithuania and Liechtenstein in the qualification . Spain prevailed as group winners without losing points. Scots and Czechs fought for second place, the other two served as stumbling blocks, but otherwise had nothing to do with the outcome. But with a 0-0 win in Lithuania, the Scots awarded two points, which they missed to second place in the end, because after the defeat in the Czech Republic they only achieved a 2-2 at home game against them. The Czech Republic then qualified as runners-up in the group via the playoffs against Montenegro for the finals, in which Spain was the first team to defend the title. Levein initially stayed in office, but was dismissed in November after a bad start in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup . His successor Gordon Strachan did not succeed in turning things around, but he got a new chance for the 2016 European Championship.

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams took part in the European Championship. For the draw for the qualifying groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, the Scots were only placed in Pot 4. Scotland was drawn in group D with world champion Germany and was drawn as further group opponents Poland , Ireland , Georgia and Gibraltar, which was taking part for the first time .

The first two in the group qualified directly for the European Championship finals. If the third-placed team had finished third in the group, they would also qualify directly. The remaining third in the group played four other participants in the playoffs.

Scotland started with a 1: 2 in Germany, then came only to a narrow 1: 0 against Georgia and a 2: 2 in Poland. After a 1-0 win against Ireland and a 6-1 win against Gibraltar as well as a 1-1 draw in Ireland, Scotland finished in third place before the final games in autumn 2015. After two defeats in September, Scotland fell back to fourth place and was only able to qualify via the playoffs of third place in the last two games when they reached third place. Due to a draw against Poland, which the Poles only managed in stoppage time, they missed the qualification - as Ireland won a competitive game for the first time against Germany at the same time. The 6: 0 in the last game against Gibraltar then had no effect.

EM 2021

Ireland, Scotland and Wales had considered a joint application for the EM 2021 in 2012, which was initially planned for 2020. Following the decision of UEFA to host the European Championship in several European cities, Scotland had applied for three group games and a round of 16 or quarter-finals with Hampden Park in Glasgow and was accepted for three group games and a round of 16. Like the other countries in which games will take place, Scotland also had to qualify. The Scots met in one of the five groups of six on Belgium, Russia, Cyprus , Kazakhstan and San Marino. The Scots, who have been coached by Alex McLeish since March 2018 , lost their first game in March 2019 in Kazakhstan 3-0. Three days later they won 2-0 in San Marino, but McLeish was sacked in mid-April. Under his successor Steve Clarke , the Scots lost both games against Belgen and Russia and could only win against the other group opponents. Even before the last three games they had no chance to qualify directly for the European Championship finals. By winning these games, they were able to improve to third place and since they had finished their group as winners in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League , they can still qualify via the playoffs. In addition, they have home rights against Israel in October 2020 and if they win this game they have to play away against the winner of the game between Norway and Serbia .

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Games	player	Year (games)
6th	Andy Goram	1992 (3), 1996 (3)
	Gary McAllister	1992 (3), 1996 (3)
	Stuart McCall	1992 (3), 1996 (3)
5	Gordon Durie	1992 (2), 1996 (3)
	Ally McCoist	1992 (3), 1996 (2)
4th	Tommy Boyd	1992 (1), 1996 (3)
	Kevin Gallacher	1992 (3), 1996 (1)

Player with the most goals at European championships

Gates	player	Year (goals)
1	Gary McAllister	1992 (1)
	Brian McClair	1992 (1)
	Ally McCoist	1996 (1)
	Paul McStay	1996 (1)

As of July 1, 2012

Players banned from European championships

• In 1992 Stuart McCall received the second yellow card in the third group game , as the Scots were eliminated this had no effect.
• In 1996, John Collins also received the second yellow card in the third group game , since the Scots were eliminated again this had no effect either.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

Traditionally, many Scots play in the English Premier League and therefore there were several Scots playing in England in the two European Championship squads, but none from other foreign leagues.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1992 (3)	5 (in England)	Gordon Durie (2), Kevin Gallacher (3), Gary McAllister (3), Brian McClair (3), Pat Nevin (1)
1996 (3)	9 (in England)	Craig Burley (3), Colin Calderwood (3), Kevin Gallacher (1), Scot Gemmill (0), Colin Hendry (3), Gary McAllister (3), Billy McKinlay (1), John Spencer (3), Derek Whyte (0)

As of July 1, 2012

Games

Gothenburg Norrkoping (2) Birmingham (2) London

Venues (yellow = balanced balance, red = negative balance, number in brackets = number of games, if> 1)

Scotland has played six European Championship games so far, two of which have been won - the last group game in each case. One game ended in a draw and three were lost. The Scots never took part in the opening game of the EM, but played once against the hosts. You played once (in the preliminary round in 1992) against the defending champions but never against the eventual European champions.

The Netherlands are the most common opponents with two games.

There was only one country with the highest victory in an EM tournament:

• CIS : preliminary round 1992 3-0 (only game against the CIS)

There was only one country in which Scotland suffered the biggest defeat at an EM tournament:

•  Germany : preliminary round 1992 - 0-2

All EM games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	June 12, 1992	0: 1 (0: 0)	Netherlands	*	Ullevi Stadium , Gothenburg ( SWE )	Group game
2	June 15, 1992	0: 2 (0: 1)	Germany	*	Idrottspark , Norrköping ( SWE )	Group game
3	June 18, 1992	3: 0 (2: 0)	CIS	*	Idrottspark , Norrköping ( SWE )	Group game	First and only international match against the CIS
4th	June 10, 1996	0-0	Netherlands	*	Villa Park , Birmingham ( ENG )	Group game
5	June 15, 1996	0: 2 (0: 0)	England	A.	Wembley Stadium , London ( ENG )	Group game
6th	June 18, 1996	1: 0 (1: 0)	Switzerland	*	Villa Park , Birmingham ( ENG )	Group game

See also

• Scottish national football team at World Championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ WALES v SCOTLAND 1: 1
2. ↑ Draw for the EURO qualification: Pot 1 in focus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , February 20, 2014, accessed June 26, 2015 . 
3. ↑ spiegel.de: Georgia is applying for EM 2020, Wilmots is in charge of Belgium
4. ↑ t-online.de: Scotland throws coaches out