Scotland national football team records and statistics

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This page details Scotland national football team records and statistics; the most capped players, the players with the most goals, and Scotland's match record by opponent and decade.

Player records

Most capped players

As of Scotland v Northern Ireland, 26 March 2024[1]
Players in bold are still active with Scotland.
Rank Name Caps Goals Scotland career Clubs[note 1]
1 Kenny Dalglish 102 30 1971–1986 Celtic, Liverpool
2 Jim Leighton 91 0 1982–1998 Aberdeen, Manchester United, Hibernian
3 Darren Fletcher 80 5 2003–2017 Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City
4 Alex McLeish 77 0 1980–1993 Aberdeen
5 Paul McStay 76 9 1983–1997 Celtic
6 Craig Gordon 74 0 2004–present Heart of Midlothian, Sunderland, Celtic
7 Tom Boyd 72 1 1990–2001 Motherwell, Chelsea, Celtic
8 Kenny Miller 69 18 2001–2013 Rangers, Wolves, Celtic, Derby County, Bursaspor, Cardiff City, Vancouver Whitecaps
Andrew Robertson 3 2014–present Dundee United, Hull City, Liverpool
David Weir 1 1997–2010 Heart of Midlothian, Everton, Rangers

Top goalscorers

As of Scotland v Northern Ireland, 26 March 2024[1]
Players in bold are still active with Scotland.
Rank Name Goals Caps Average Scotland career
1 Denis Law (list) 30 55 0.545 1958–1974
Kenny Dalglish (list) 30 102 0.294 1971–1986
3 Hughie Gallacher[2] 24 20 1.2 1924–1935
4 Lawrie Reilly 22 38 0.579 1948–1957
5 Ally McCoist 19 61 0.311 1986–1998
6 John McGinn 18 64 0.281 2016–present
Kenny Miller 18 69 0.261 2001–2013
8 Robert Hamilton 15 11 1.364 1899–1911
James McFadden 15 48 0.313 2002–2010
10 Mo Johnston 14 38 0.368 1984–1991

Hat-tricks

Table

Wartime internationals, not regarded as official matches, are not included in the list.

Date Player Opponent Ref
2 March 1878 John McDougall  England [3]
13 March 1880 George Ker  England [3]
12 March 1881
John Smith
 England [4]
14 March 1885 Alex Higgins Ireland Ireland [4]
23 March 1885 Joseph Lindsay  Wales [4]
20 March 1886 Charles Heggie Ireland Ireland [4]
24 March 1888 William Dickson Ireland Ireland [4]
9 March 1889 Willie Groves Ireland Ireland [4]
22 March 1890
William Paul
 Wales [4]
18 March 1893 John Barker  Wales [5]
18 March 1893
Jake Madden
 Wales [5]
19 March 1898 James Gillespie  Wales [5]
18 March 1899 Robert Smyth McColl  Wales [5]
25 March 1899 Robert Smyth McColl Ireland Ireland [5]
7 April 1900 Robert Smyth McColl  England [5]
23 February 1901 Sandy McMahon Ireland Ireland [6]
23 February 1901
RC Hamilton
Ireland Ireland [6]
1 March 1902
RC Hamilton
Ireland Ireland [6]
14 March 1908 Jimmy Quinn Ireland Ireland [6]
27 February 1926 Hughie Gallacher Ireland Ireland [7]
27 February 1928 Alex Jackson  England [7]
27 October 1928 Hughie Gallacher  Wales [7]
23 February 1929 Hughie Gallacher Ireland Ireland [7]
26 May 1929 Alec Cheyne  Norway [7]
26 May 1932 Neil Dewar  France [8]
1 October 1949 Henry Morris Ireland Ireland [9]
1 November 1950 Billy Steel  Northern Ireland [9]
20 May 1951 George Hamilton  Belgium [10]
30 April 1952 Lawrie Reilly  United States [10]
8 May 1957 Jackie Mudie  Spain [11]
7 October 1961
Alex Scott
 Northern Ireland [12]
7 November 1962 Denis Law  Northern Ireland [12]
4 June 1963 Denis Law  Norway [12]
7 November 1963 Denis Law  Norway [12]
13 June 1967 Joe Harper  Canada Olympic Team [13][14]
17 May 1969 Colin Stein  Cyprus [15]
29 March 2015 Steven Fletcher  Gibraltar [16]
11 October 2015 Steven Fletcher  Gibraltar [17]
4 September 2016 Robert Snodgrass  Malta [18]
20 November 2018 James Forrest  Israel [19]
12 October 2019 John McGinn  San Marino [20]

Team records

Head to head records

As of Scotland v Northern Ireland, 26 March 2024
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD WPCT
 Albania 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 100.00
 Argentina 4 1 1 2 3 5 −2 25.00
 Armenia 2 2 0 0 6 1 +5 100.00
 Australia 8 6 1 1 11 4 +7 75.00
 Austria 23 7 8 8 30 37 −7 30.43
 Belarus 4 2 1 1 5 2 +3 50.00
 Belgium 20 4 3 13 21 41 −20 20.00
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 2 0 0 3 1 +2 100.00
 Brazil 10 0 2 8 3 16 −13 0.00
 Bulgaria 6 3 3 0 10 4 +6 50.00
 Canada 6 5 1 0 14 3 +11 83.33
 Canada Olympic Team 1 1 0 0 7 2 +5 100.00
 Chile 2 2 0 0 6 2 +4 100.00
 Colombia 3 0 2 1 2 3 −1 0.00
 CIS 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 100.00
 Costa Rica 2 0 0 2 0 2 −2 0.00
 Croatia 6 2 3 1 6 5 +1 33.33
 Cyprus 9 9 0 0 30 6 +24 100.00
 Czech Republic 10 4 1 5 11 14 −3 40.00
 Czechoslovakia 10 5 1 4 18 16 +2 50.00
 Denmark 18 11 0 7 22 14 +8 61.11
 East Germany 6 2 1 3 6 4 +2 33.33
 Ecuador 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100.00
 Egypt 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0.00
 England 116 41 26 49 175 206 −31 35.34
 Estonia 8 6 2 0 13 3 +10 75.00
 Faroe Islands 11 9 2 0 31 6 +25 81.82
 Finland 8 6 2 0 18 5 +13 75.00
 France 17 8 0 9 16 27 −11 47.06
 Georgia 6 3 1 2 7 6 +1 50.00
 Germany 9 2 2 5 9 12 −3 22.22
 Gibraltar 2 2 0 0 12 1 +11 100.00
 Greece 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 50.00
Hong Kong League XI 1 1 0 0 4 0 +4 100.00
 Hungary 9 3 2 4 14 18 −4 33.33
 Iceland 6 6 0 0 12 3 +9 100.00
 Iran 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0.00
 Ireland 55 43 6 6 185 47 +138 78.18
 Israel 11 6 3 2 16 11 +5 54.55
 Italy 11 1 2 8 4 19 −15 9.09
 Japan 3 0 2 1 0 2 −2 0.00
 Kazakhstan 2 1 0 1 3 4 −1 50.00
 Latvia 4 4 0 0 7 1 +6 100.00
 Liechtenstein 2 2 0 0 3 1 +2 100.00
 Lithuania 10 6 3 1 14 4 +10 60.00
 Luxembourg 5 4 1 0 12 1 +11 80.00
 Malta 7 6 1 0 18 5 +13 85.71
 Mexico 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0.00
 Moldova 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 75.00
 Morocco 1 0 0 1 0 3 −3 0.00
 Netherlands 21 6 5 10 17 32 −15 28.57
 New Zealand 2 1 1 0 6 3 +3 50.00
 Nigeria 2 0 1 1 3 4 −1 0.00
 North Macedonia 4 2 1 1 5 3 +2 50.00
 Northern Ireland 41 20 11 10 73 35 +38 48.78
 Norway 20 10 7 3 39 25 +14 50.00
 Paraguay 1 0 0 1 2 3 −1 0.00
 Peru 4 1 1 2 4 6 −2 25.00
 Poland 11 2 6 3 14 15 −1 18.18
 Portugal 15 4 3 8 14 21 −7 26.67
 Qatar 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 100.00
 Republic of Ireland 13 5 3 5 14 13 +1 38.46
 Romania 6 2 2 2 8 6 +2 33.33
 Russia 4 0 2 2 2 7 −5 0.00
 San Marino 8 8 0 0 27 0 +27 100.00
 Saudi Arabia 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 0.00
 Serbia 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 0.00
 Slovakia 4 2 0 2 2 4 −2 50.00
 Slovenia 5 2 3 0 7 3 +4 40.00
 South Africa 2 1 0 1 1 2 −1 50.00
 South Korea 1 0 0 1 1 4 −3 0.00
 Soviet Union 4 0 1 3 2 6 −4 0.00
 Spain 15 4 4 7 22 25 −3 26.67
 Sweden 12 5 1 6 14 19 −5 41.67
  Switzerland 16 8 3 5 26 24 +2 50.00
 Trinidad and Tobago 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3 100.00
 Turkey 2 0 0 2 3 6 −3 0.00
 Ukraine 5 2 1 2 7 6 +1 40.00
 United States 7 2 3 2 10 8 +2 28.57
 Uruguay 4 1 1 2 4 10 −6 25.00
 Wales 107 61 23 23 243 124 +119 57.01
 West Germany 8 2 3 3 14 14 0 25.00
 Yugoslavia 8 2 5 1 16 11 +5 25.00
 Zaire 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 100.00
Total 828 392 179 257 1417 1020 +397 47.34
Source: Results

Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches, five matches from a 1967 overseas tour that were reclassified as full internationals in 2021,[13] and a match against a Hong Kong League XI played on 23 May 2002 that the Scottish Football Association includes in its statistical totals.[21][22]

By period

As of Scotland v Northern Ireland, 26 March 2024
Period Pld W D L GF GA GD W%
1872–1914 113 71 23 19 341 137 +204 062.83
1920–1939 75 46 12 17 160 95 +65 061.33
1940–1959 86 39 19 28 162 130 +32 045.35
1960–1979 158 70 33 55 266 217 +49 044.30
1980–1999 179 76 46 57 213 167 +46 042.46
2000–2019 172 70 34 68 213 222 −9 040.70
2020–present 45 20 12 13 62 52 +10 044.44
Totals 828 392 179 257 1,417 1,020 +397 047.34

Statistics include official FIFA recognised matches, five matches from a 1967 overseas tour that were reclassified as full internationals in 2021,[13] and a match against a Hong Kong League XI played on 23 May 2002 that the Scottish Football Association includes in its statistical totals.[21][22]

Notes

  1. ^ Only clubs played for while receiving caps are listed.

References

  1. ^ a b Mamrud, Roberto. "Scotland - Record International Players". RSSSF.
  2. ^ Hughie Gallacher Goals For Scotland
  3. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  4. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  5. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  6. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  7. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  8. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  9. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  10. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  11. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  12. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  13. ^ a b c "Former Scotland players to be recognised with international caps including Sir Alex Ferguson". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Scottish Football Association. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Scotland Unofficial Matches 1964-1967". RSSSF. 23 July 2020.
  15. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  16. ^ "Scotland 6–1 Gibraltar". BBC Sport. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Gibraltar 0–6 Scotland". BBC Sport. 11 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Malta 1–5 Scotland". BBC Sport. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  19. ^ Lamont, Alasdair (20 November 2018). "Scotland 3–2 Israel". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  20. ^ Lamont, Alasdair (13 October 2019). "Scotland 6–0 San Marino". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  21. ^ a b "HONG KONG v SCOTLAND". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  22. ^ a b "Gordon Strachan". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 19 September 2013.