As Scotland’s footballers lined up against Brazil in the opening game of the 1998 Fifa World Cup in France, few could have imagined it would be a generation before they would compete on a big international stage again.
Now, more than a quarter of a century on, Scotland’s men will return to a major overseas tournament having secured qualification for the 2024 Uefa European Football Championship taking place in Germany over the next month.
In a stroke of fate, the Scots will again play in the prestigious opening fixture, this time against the host nation in Munich on Friday evening.
“I don’t think you can underestimate us qualifying, because it’s been that long,” said Paul Lambert, a former Scotland captain who played in the match against then world champions Brazil in Paris 26 years ago. Scotland narrowly lost the game and exited France 98 at the first stage.
“I was brought up with Scotland qualifying regularly,” he said of the sides that took part in five consecutive World Cups from 1974, and two European championships, featuring names such as Kenny Dalglish, Archie Gemmill and Ally McCoist. “Whereas this generation it’s like, ‘oh my God, Scotland’s qualified’.”
Scotland’s men also took part in the last European championship in 2021, but their three games were played in the UK and crowds were limited due to the Covid pandemic. Scotland’s women have participated in two major tournaments in recent years, and are well-placed to qualify for next year’s women’s European championship.
The prolonged absence of the men, which Lambert attributed to a “lull” in the emergence of enough quality players, was a source of anguish and frustration for Scottish football and its passionate fan base known as the Tartan Army.
As if to make up for lost time, an estimated 200,000 Scotland supporters will travel to Germany this month, according to the British embassy in Munich, only a fraction of them with tickets.
“It’s absolutely massive,” said Alan Duncan, 53, chair of Tartan Army’s north of Scotland branch. “There’s a whole generation of younger guys who have never been to a major championship.”
Duncan said Scotland had been “gripped” by excitement about Euro 2024, the quest for match tickets and travel plans to Germany, adding that this had provided a much-needed distraction for those grappling with worries such as the cost of living crisis.
“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘I’ll see you in Germany’, and I say: ‘you don’t even follow football’.”
Craig Ferguson, a 20-year-old from Paisley, is one of those travelling to the tournament, having quit his job as a waiter to walk to Munich for the opening game, to raise money for Brothers in Arms, a mental health charity.
“It started as a silly joke . . . fast forward six months and here I am,” he said from the German city of Karlsruhe, having already traversed southern Scotland, northern England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
“For a whole generation of people my age, and slightly older, this is the first time we can just fully embrace a European tournament,” he explained. “After hearing all the stories, we’re finally able to create stories of our own.”
The return of the Scotland men’s national team to the big time was made possible by five consecutive victories during qualification, including memorable wins over Norway and Spain.
But the team led by manager Steve Clarke has stuttered of late, labouring to victory over Gibraltar and drawing with Finland in recent warm-ups.
Yet Lambert, who managed Norwich City and Aston Villa in the English Premier League, insisted Scotland should go into the tournament, in which they also face Hungary and Switzerland, in confident mood.
“Germany are coming into a bit of form but Scotland has a good spirit about them,” said the former national captain, who won Europe’s premier club competition, the Uefa Champions League, with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund and retains strong links with the country.
“It’s going to be tough but we’ve nothing to lose — the pressure is totally on Germany. If we can get something from this game then it sets us up for the other two.”
Even the most diehard Scotland supporters do not expect their side to win Euro 2024, with the likes of France, England and the hosts Germany among the favourites. The aim instead is to achieve something that eluded even the revered sides of the past: secure enough points to make it out of the group stage and into the knockout rounds for the first time.
“We’re more than capable of doing it,” Lambert said of a prospect made easier by Uefa’s decision to tweak the tournament format so more teams can progress, meaning a single win may be sufficient.
“The lads are in a good place, playing with good clubs,” he added, singling out Andrew Robertson, a Champions League winner with Liverpool, John McGinn of Aston Villa and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay, Scotland’s leading goalscorer in qualifying. “There’s a really good chance.”
Duncan was equally sure that Scotland could make history. “There’s a togetherness between the players, the coaching staff and the fans,” he said. And the prize, now within grasp: “A chance to become legends.”
