Scotland national football team (Tartan Army)

The Scotland National Football Team?s first ever international game was also the first international football match, against England in Partick, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

Scotland first entered the World Cup in 1950 but despite qualifying the Scottish FA had said that if they didn?t win the Home Nations? Championship they would not go to the World Cup, and after they failed to beat England they stuck by that statement, in spite of the wishes of the players Scotland did reach the 1958 World Cup but lost two of their three games, finishing bottom of their group.

In 1967 Scotland beat England, the reigning world champions, at Wembley in the Home Nations? Championship, with fans crowning them the ?Unofficial World Champions?. It wasn?t until 1974 that they qualified for their second World Cup. After a narrow win against Zaire, draws against Brazil and Yugoslavia saw then become the first ever country to be eliminated from a World Cup finals without having lost a game.

Scotland reached the 1978 World Cup in Argentina as well, with manager Ally MacLeod saying Scotland were sure to reach the semi-finals, however despite beating the Netherlands 3-2 the Scots went out after only taking one point from games against Peru and Iran.

Again reaching the World Cup in 1982 under Jock Stein Scotland beat New Zealand 4-1 but they still went out after losing to Brazil. The qualification for Mexico ?86 was marred by Stein?s death from a heart attack towards the end of the final game of qualifying, and a poor tournament followed. Scotland qualified for Euro 96 in England but went out in the group stage on goal difference, despite beating Switzerland and drawing with the Netherlands. Scotland nearly qualified for the Euros in 2004 and 2008 but despite the increase in teams for the 2016 European Championships the Scots still failed to reach even the play-offs.