THE ONE consistent thing about Scottish international football since we first took to the world stage in 1950 has been our inability to meet our expectations.
Since our initial tilt at global or pan-European competition at the 1950 World Cup, we have entered either the World Cup or the European Championships 35 times. In these 35 tournaments, we have qualified in 14 and slipped amongst the also-rans in 21 – a 40% qualification rate.
Not particularly impressive, but, still a lot better than our non-success when we have reached the main tournament – where we have yet to advance beyond the initial group stage on all 13 occasions when we competed.
Our grim record is listed below:
1950 World Cup – Qualified 6 of 16 European entrants – did not travel
1954 World Cup – Qualified 8 of 26
1958 World Cup – Qualified 8 of 27
1962 World Cup – 12 of 28 – Failed to Qualify
1966 World Cup – 14 of 29 – Failed to Qualify
1968 Euros – 9 of 31 – Failed to Qualify
1970 World Cup – 12 of 29 – Failed to Qualify
1972 Euros – 21 of 32 – Failed to Qualify
1974 World Cup – Qualified 6 of 32
1976 Euros – 18 of 32 – Failed to Qualify
1978 World Cup – Qualified 6 of 31
1980 Euros – 22 – of 30 – Failed to Qualify
1982 World Cup – Qualified 5 of 31
1984 Euros – 24 of 32 – Failed to Qualify
1986 World Cup – Qualified 13 of 32
1988 Euros – 16 of 32 – Failed to Qualify
1990 World Cup – Qualified 12 of 32
1992 Euros – Qualified 5 – 33
1994 World Cup – 22 of 36 – Failed to Qualify
1996 Euros – Qualified 12 of 47
1998 World Cup – Qualified 10 of 49
2000 Euros – 20 of 50 – Failed to Qualify
2002 World Cup – 26 of 50 – Failed to Qualify
2004 Euros – 20 of 50 – Failed to Qualify
2006 World Cup - 24 of 52 – Failed to Qualify
2008 Euros – 16 of 50 – Failed to Qualify
2010 World Cup – 27 of 53 – Failed to Qualify
2012 Euros – 27 of 51 – Failed to Qualify
2014 World Cup – 34 of 53 – Failed to Qualify
2016 Euros – 28 of 53 – Failed to Qualify
2018 World Cup – 20 of 54 – Failed to Qualify
2020 Euros – Qualified 24 of 55
2022 World Cup – 16 of 55 – Failed to Qualify
2024 Euros – Qualified 14 of 55
2026 World Cup – Qualified 6 of 54
In these tournaments, the results statistics are:
World Cup Qualifiers: p 142 – w 73 – d 31 – l 38 – for 232 – agnst 153 - 51% wins – 59% of available points won
European Championship qualifiers: p 130 – w 62 – d 30 – l 38 – f 200 – agn 145 - 48% wins – 55% of available points won
World Cup Final Tournament games: p 26 – w 5 – d 7 – l 14 – for 26 – agnst 45 - 19% wins – 28% of available points won
European Championship Final Tournament games: p 12 – w 2 – d 3 – l7 – for 5 – agnst 18 – 17% wins – 25% of available points won
Overall: p 310 – w 142 – d 71 – l 97 – for 463 – agnst 361 – 46% wins – 53% of available points won
So, while our performances are fairly consistent whether we are competing in the European Championships or the World Cup, we have tended to do better in the World event, where we have qualified for the finals in 10 of our 20 qualifying attempts – a 50% success rate. In Europe, we have only qualified in 4 of our 15 qualification attempts – a 27% success rate.
We are now in our eighth decade of truly competitive international football, playing nations from across Europe and the World, whereas from the 1870s until the 1940s we only played competitively against the other British Isles nations. These eight decades have seen us slump from being one of the top eight nations in Europe to now being a mid-table side. The results in each decade are:
1950s – average European ranking 8 – qualifying success 3 from 3 – 100%
1960s – average ranking 13 – qualifying success 0 from 3 – 0%
1970s – average ranking 12 – qualifying success 2 from 5 – 40%
1980s – average ranking 16 – qualifying success 2 from 5 – 40%
1990s – average ranking 12 – qualifying success 4 from 5 – 80%
2000s - average ranking 21 – qualifying success 0 from 5 – 0%
2010s – average ranking 25 – qualifying success 0 from 5 – 0%
2020s – average ranking 14 – qualifying success 3 from 4 – 75%
Worryingly however, when we do qualify for a final tournament, we have a tendancy to under-perform, as this table shows. It should be noted, our qualification process is always against other European nations, thus, in addition to how we perform overall in World Cup Finals, we have to compare our performances there against that of the other European nations which qualify; the results are:
1954 World Cup – Qualified 11 of 26 European entrants : finished 11th European - 15th of 16
1958 World Cup – Qualified 11 of 27 : finished 11th European - 14th of 16
1974 World Cup – Qualified 8th of 27 : finished 7th European - 9th of 16
1978 World Cup – Qualified 6th of 31 : finished 7th European - 10th of 16
1982 World Cup – Qualified 5th of 31 : finished 13th European - 15th of 24
1986 World Cup – Qualified 13th of 32 : finished 13th European – 19 of 24
1990 World Cup – Qualified 12th of 32 : finished 13th European – 18 of 24
1992 Euros – Qualified 5th of 33 : finished 5th of 8
1996 Euros – Qualified 12th of 47 : finished 12th of 16
1998 World Cup – Qualified 10th of 49 : finished 14th of 15 – 26th of 32
2020 Euros – Qualified 24th of 55 : finished 22nd of 24
2024 Euros – Qualified 14th of 55 : finished 24th of 24
2026 World Cup – Qualified 12th of 55 – finished 15th of 16 - 35th of 48
Only twice, in 13 tournaments for which we have qualified for the finals – in the 1974 World Cup and at Euro 2020 have we bettered our qualifying performance when it matters. Is it perhaps a Scottish thing – that it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive? Whatever, we have still to break through the glass ceiling into the knock-out phase of the finals.
Since we joined the rest of the world in 1950, our median position in the European nations pecking order has been 15th, while we have generally succeeded in qualifying for the finals in 45% of the two major international tournaments. Stevie Clarke, having led us to three of the last four tournaments, leaves us slightly ahead of the game, can his successor cheer-up the nation by taking us even higher?
Can whoever gets the job get us where we want to be, into the sharp end of either of the major tournaments? That is the big question and our great hope.
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