Scotland at the European Championships

Held every four years since 1960, the Euros – or UEFA European Championships – stand as the continent’s premier international tournament. After near misses and close calls, Scotland finally took their bow in the competition in Sweden in 1992.

Scotland's biggest win at the UEFA European Championships came in Sweden against the CIS. The Scots won 3-0 and claimed a little piece of history, playing the ‘Commonwealth of Independent States’ in their last ever match as the old USSR disintegrated.

The competition in Sweden also saw Scotland's Tartan Army officially recognised for their exceptional behaviour in and around the matches with a UEFA Fair Play letter. 

Four years later the Scots marched south of the border to England and EURO 96, where there was an impressive draw with Holland, a win over Switzerland and a defeat to England. Level on points with the Dutch they went out by the narrowest of margins, on number of goals scored.

Gary McAllister captained the Scots in '96 and, wearing this armband, suffered the agonies of a freak penalty miss  which would have turned the game against England. Minutes later Paul Gascoigne made it 2-0 for the Auld Enemy and effectively killed the contest.

Scotland’s sole win at EURO 96 may ultimately have served as a consolation but it was sealed by one of the goals of the tournament. 'Super' Ally McCoist was some 30 yards out when he stepped onto a Gary McAllister lay off and thundered home the only goal of the game.

In 2002, the Scottish and Irish FAs launched a joint bid to host the 2008 UEFA European Championships. The proposal would have seen games staged at Hampden Park, Croke Park, Murrayfield among others. The winning bid came from Austria and Switzerland who hosted EURO 08.

A second bid was written, this time for EURO 2020 and Glasgow went on to become one of 13 host cities to mark the 60th anniversary of the UEFA European Championships. This document detailed the bid, which was backed by legendary football figures, including Sir Alex Ferguson.

After a 23-year wait, Scotland finally returned to the EUROs when they beat Serbia in a dramatic play-off. This shirt was worn by David Marshall who heroically saved Serbia’s final penalty to send Scotland through to the EURO 2020 finals.