I came across a video a few weeks ago on YouTube that was listing the number of goals that each country had scored at the World Cup and was pleasantly surprised to see Scotland had no fewer than twenty five. The number seemed a little high to me, but then it would! I only remember seeing us score four! But a little bit of research proved that the number is accurate. So it got me thinking – who scored those goals and when?

And since Scotland are once more on the verge of a major tournament, with qualification for Euro 2024 in Germany now wrapped up as of Sunday, I figured I’d have a look at all the goals we’ve scored across the years. So let’s have a whistle stop tour of them, shall we?

1958 World Cup, Sweden. Four goals.

Although the first World Cup that Scotland qualified for was the Swiss finals in 1954, we didn’t manage to score in either match against Austria or Uruguay there. Instead, Jimmy Murray’s goal against Yugoslavia has the honour of being our first goal at a major tournament. The inside right for Hearts equalised at the start of the second half, and as it was the last goal of the game it also means that it saw us pick up our first ever point. Sadly it would be our only point as Blackpool’s John Mudie’s equaliser against Paraguay later saw them go 3-1 up before Celtic’s Bobby Collins pulled one back but no one was able to get a late equaliser this time. In the final game, Rangers’ Stuart Baird pulled a goal back against France who by that time were already two goals up. No more goals in that game meant Scotland finished bottom of the group and went home with just a single point.

1974 World Cup, West Germany. Three goals.

Scotland would miss out on the next three World Cups in Chile, England and Mexico, returning to the big stage once more in West Germany. This time, Scotland would pick up their first ever tournament win with a 2-0 victory over Zaire. Those goals came from the Leeds United pairing of Peter Lorimer and Joe Jordan. Unfortunately, the fact Scotland only scored twice against Zaire, both goals coming in the first half of the match, would come back to haunt them later on. The second game against Brazil was a goalless draw, and given Brazil and Yugoslavia had drawn in their first match it meant that goal difference was going to play a part – especially when Scotland also drew 1-1 with Yugoslavia, Joe Jordan getting a late equaliser in that game. Brazil’s 3-0 win over Zaire that day was enough to send them through with Yugoslavia who had thumped Zaire 9-0, and Scotland went out undefeated – the first team to ever do so.

1978 World Cup, Argentina. Five goals.

Joe Jordan scored at his second World Cup by getting the opening goal against Peru, but things all went a bit pear-shaped for Scotland soon after. The opening match finished in a 3-1 defeat, and was then followed up by a 1-1 draw with Iran. Again, Scotland took the lead in that match, but this goal came courtesy of an Andranik Eskandarin own goal. With only a single point from two matches, Scotland went into the final group match knowing that they needed to beat the Netherlands by three clear goals if they wanted to progress. The real Scotland finally showed up for that match and although they went a goal down they then rallied first through Liverpool’s Kenny Dalglish followed by two goals from Nottingham Forest’s Archie Gemmill. The first of those two was a penalty, but the second is stuff of legend as he jinked his way through the Dutch defence and scored a goal that is so good it has an interesting comparison in the movie Trainspotting. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, the Dutch scored again to make it 3-2, and Scotland went home despite doing a better job of beating the Dutch than Argentina did when the teams faced off in the final.

1982 World Cup, Spain. Eight goals.

Jock Stein’s Scotland has the honour of scoring the most goals at a single tournament of any Scotland side, and to be fair that’s mostly down to the fact that they beat New Zealand 5-2 in the opening game. Kenny Dalglish got things started with Ipswich Town’s John Wark adding two more before half time. Then Scotland rather let New Zealand back into it again in the second half by conceding twice, before Nottingham Forest’s John Robertson and Tottenham Hotspur’s Steve Archibald made sure of the victory. But those goals would once again come back to haunt Scotland as the goal different evaporated in the second game. Dundee United’s David Narey entered Scottish folklore with his long range strike to put Scotland 1-0 up against Brazil, but of course that just annoyed them and Scotland lost 4-1. This meant that Scotland would have to beat the USSR in the final group match. It started well enough when Joe Jordan – by that time playing at Manchester United – became the only Scotsman to score at three World Cups by getting the opener. However, two goals from the Soviets – one of which famously due to our central defence of Willie Miller and Alan Hansen running into each other – meant that when Liverpool’s Graeme Souness scored in the last couple of minutes it was only an equaliser and Scotland once again went home on goal difference.

1986 World Cup, Mexico. One goal.

If 1982 was a high mark for scoring, then. 1986 was one of the lowest. The opening game was a 1-0 defeat to Denmark, whilst the 2-1 defeat to West Germany in the second game left us with an uphill struggle to get out of the group once more. The goal in that game came from Manchester United’s Gordon Strachan, probably more famous for his “I’m too wee to jump the advertising so I’ll just put my leg on it” celebration. But with three teams possibly qualifying from the group, we still had a chance against Uruguay in the final game – especially when they were immediately reduced to ten men in one of the fastest ever red cards. All we had to do was score and we’d have gone through as one of the four best third placed teams. But the game finished 0-0 as we just couldn’t find a goal from anywhere, and just to rub salt into the wound, Uruguay instead went through to the last sixteen where they lost to eventual winners Argentina.

1990 World Cup, Italy, Two goals.

Both goals of this campaign came in the second match, after the opening match was another infamous misjudgement of our unknown opponent. In this case, Costa Rica were the team to come out on top 1-0. But Scotland got themselves back in the campaign with a 2-1 win over a very good Swedish side. The Rangers pairing of Stuart McCall and Mo Johnston, the latter scoring from the penalty spot, got the goals that gave us the win even though Sweden did get a consolation late on and make it a little edgy. Scotland then needed a draw against Brazil to be sure of making the knockout phase, but sadly Brazil scored with nine minutes remaining and Scotland couldn’t find a reply. It was a whole 24 hours later before it was confirmed that Scotland, along with Austria, were the two third placed teams that hadn’t done enough and would be on the plane home.

1992 European Championship, Sweden. Three goals.

In what might be Scotland’s finest ever performance at a major tournament, we not only qualified for a finals that only had eight teams in it, but we also held our own against the reigning European Champions – the Netherlands, and the reigning World Champions – the now reunified Germany. The respective 1-0 and 2-0 defeats were difficult to take, particularly the latter where we were arguably the better team over Germany, but those results meant we were already out by the time we faced the Commonwealth of Independent States. Yes, we had the runners-up from Euro 88 in our group as well, or as near as the changing political landscape would allow. The CIS still had a chance of progressing at Germany’s expense, but Scotland made sure they’d be on the plane home with us. Celtic’s Paul McStay saw his shot hit the post but then hit Dmitiri Kharine on the back of the head and go in. These days that would be credited as an own goal but McStay has it listed as his goal so we’ll go with it since it starts the McEuro trend of all our goalscorers at the Euros having a name that starts with Mc. Manchester United’s Brian McClair was next to finally break his international duck, with Leeds United’s Gary McAllister scoring Scotland’s third from the penalty spot. The 3-0 win meant Scotland went home with a victory, a zero goal difference, and as the fifth best team in Europe.

1996 European Championship, England. One goal.

Scotland made it back to back Euros appearances, something they will now repeat in 2024, by qualifying for the tournament across the border. So of course we ended up in the host’s group. Opening with a credible goalless draw against the Netherlands, we went to Wembley in the second group match and had a perfect chance to equalise after Alan Shearer’s opener. But Gary McAllister’s penalty was blocked by David Seaman, and moments later Paul Gascoigne was scoring one of the all time great goals. We still had a chance to qualify though, we just needed to beat Switzerland by a few goals and hope England could beat the Netherlands. What actually happened was far more unexpected as England raced to a 4-0 lead over the Dutch. This was while we were beating the Swiss 1-0 thanks to a goal from Rangers’ Ally McCoist. Those scorelines would have been enough to send Scotland through, but sadly Scotland couldn’t get a second goal to give us some breathing room and so when the Dutch pulled a goal back to lose 4-1 it was enough to make the difference and send them through to the knockout stage whilst sending us up the road again.

1998 World Cup, France. Two goals.

In what might be one of our proudest moments, Scotland were drawn with Brazil for yet another World Cup. But this time we were facing the holders in the opening match of the tournament, so the world would be watching too. It didn’t start well as we conceded in the opening few minutes, but before the half was over Scotland were back in it courtesy of Monaco’s John Collins’ penalty. Unfortunately, Celtic’s captain Tom Boyd is credited with the own goal that proved to be the winner, as if the calamity for that goal was just his fault. It did hit him last though. The second game saw Scotland have to come from behind to draw with Norway, Celtic’s Craig Burley getting the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. Unfortunately, that goal remains the last that Scotland’s men have scored at a World Cup, and was for 23 years the last any Scotsman had scored at any major tournament. The 3-0 defeat to Morocco in the final game sent us home, although Morocco also suffered that same fate as Norway somehow beat Brazil to go through with them.

2017 European Championship, the Netherlands. Two goals.

It would be nineteen years before a Scottish side reached another major tournament, and this one would see the women’s national side qualify for the first time. However, it didn’t get off to the best start as they slumped to a 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Auld Enemy. The second game was much better, with Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert getting a second half equaliser after Portugal had taken the lead in the first half. Unfortunately that didn’t last long and Portugal won the match 2-1. However, if Cuthbert was the first woman to score for Scotland at a major tournament, then Liverpool’s Caroline Weir went even further and scored our first winner. Her goal just before half time against Spain in the third match was the only goal of the game. Had Scotland been able to score a second, they would have gone through with England as second place came down to the head to head which Spain edged due to their 2-0 win over Portugal. Another “close but no cigar” moment for Scotland.

2019 World Cup, France. Five goals.

The women made their debut at a World Cup in the same country as the men last played at theirs. However, it was very much a tournament of what-ifs. The opening game once again found Scotland facing England, but a much improved performance over the game two years earlier saw Scotland losing out 2-1 and maybe a little frustrated at not taking more chances and certainly not happy that VAR wasn’t on our side either – which would be a theme of this group stage. Manchester City’s Claire Emslie got what amounted to being a consolation goal. It was a similar story in the second game against Japan, a very soft penalty giving them a second goal before half time. Fiorentina’s Lana Clelland did score with a couple of minutes left but again it wasn’t enough. The third game still gave Scotland a chance of being one of the best third placed teams, and Scotland seemed to be well on course for it. Arsenal’s Kim Little had given Scotland a first half lead over Argentina, and when Manchester City’s Jen Beattie got a second just after half time before Erin Cuthbert made it 3-0 midway through the second half, you would think from that position we would finally have a team in the knockout stages. Ten minutes later though it was 3-2, and an injury time retaken penalty after Lee Alexander had saved the first but was judged to be marginally off her line made it 3-3. That result meant that both Scotland and Argentina missed out.

2020 European Championship, Europe-Wide. One goal.

Scotland’s men returned to the big stage after 23 years in the delayed Euro 2020 tournament and being one of the host nations in the Europe-wide tournament was thought to perhaps be the advantage we would need to finally make a knockout stage. Alas, it doesn’t help as much when COVID-19 restrictions means the stadium is only at 25% capacity, the pandemic having already delayed the tournament by a year. The opening fixture saw Scotland lose 2-0 to Czechia at Hampden, whilst the game at Wembley against England was goalless. It took until the third game to finally have something to cheer, but even that was Celtic’s Callum McGregor scoring an equaliser against Croatia just before half time. Two more goals from Croatia in the second half sent us out at the group stages once more.

2024 European Championship, Germany. TBC.

So who will be next to add their name to this list? Will the McEuros trend continue and see McGinn and McTominay added to McStay, McClair, McAllister, McCoist and McGregor? They’ve scored enough in qualifying after all! Will we continue or amazing growth under Steve Clarke and finally reach the promised land of the knockout stages?

The final two games of qualifying for us could play a part in our seeding for the draw on the 2nd of December, so although it’s mission accomplished there is still work to do. Spain’s goal difference makes it unlikely we’ll top the group given the head to head is even between us, but being the best second placed team would be the difference between pot two and pot three and that is the position we currently occupy. Win our remaining games and we’ll be assured of at least that.

But for now, let’s just enjoy the fact that Scotland will be at the finals in Germany next summer, the first time the men have qualified automatically for any tournament since 1998. No playoffs this time!