The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team.

As a European under-21 team, Scotland compete in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which is usually held every other year. The team has qualified for the final stages of these Championships on six occasions, although not since 1996. There is no global tournament for under-21 national teams. Performance in the European Championship determines qualification for football at the Summer Olympics, which Scotland is unable to compete in.

History Scotland played under-23 international matches, mainly friendlies against England and Wales, from 1955 until 1975. Scotland first entered the UEFA competition for under-23 national teams in 1975–76. Scotland reached the quarter-finals, but were eliminated on a penalty shootout by the Netherlands. An under-21 team then came into existence, replacing the under-23 team, when UEFA reduced the age limit.

Scotland under-21s have reached the last four of the European tournament three times (1982, 1992 and 1996), while appearing in the quarter-finals on three other occasions (1980, 1984 and 1988). The team qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics, but were unable to compete due to Scotland not being independently represented in the International Olympic Committee. The under-21 team has not qualified for a finals tournament since the late 1990s. They reached the playoff round for the 2004 and 2011 tournaments, but lost to Croatia and Iceland respectively.

In 2018, an under-21 squad returned to the Toulon Tournament. Despite the loss to Turkey in a penalty-out for third-place. Scotland did receive the tournament Fair Play Award.

Competitive record Champions   Runners-up   Third place   Fourth place   Tournament held on home soil  

UEFA European U-21 Championship Record UEFA European Under-21 Championship recordQualification recordYearRound 1976 Quarter-finals 2101224400112 1978 Did not qualify421154 1980 Quarter-finals 2011125320135 1982 Semi-finals 412122421174 1984 Quarter-finals 2101346420116 1986 Did not qualify 411214 1988 Quarter-finals 200202431072 1990 Did not qualify 6114713 1992 Semi-finals 4121556501135 1994 Did not qualify 8224811 1996 Fourth place 4103568701164 1998 Did not qualify 102171020 2000 104241812 2002 622266 2004 8512118 2006 10136617 2007 200214 2009 8512176 2011 105231811 2013 8341169 2015 83231215 2017 10226817 2019 104241313 2021 10532165 2023 8143610 2025 105141911 2027 In Progress 6312187TotalSemi-finals2055151823193844267294231 *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided by a penalty shootout.

Other tournaments

Year Competition Result GP W D* L GS GA Ref 1977 Toulon Tournament 6th place 4 1 1 2 6 7 1991 Toulon Tournament Group Stage 3 2 1 0 5 3 1992 Toulon Tournament Group Stage 3 0 0 3 0 7 1993 Toulon Tournament Semi-finals 4 2 0 2 3 2 1994 Toulon Tournament Group Stage 3 1 1 1 3 3 1995 Toulon Tournament Semi-finals 4 2 0 2 4 7 1997 Toulon Tournament Group Stage 4 0 3 1 2 4 1999 Three Nations Tournament 1st place 2 1 1 0 2 1 2000 Three Nations Tournament 1st place 2 1 1 0 2 1 2018 Toulon Tournament 4th place 5 2 2 1 5 5 *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided by a penalty shootout.

Head coaches

Archie Knox left his post as Scotland's National Youth Teams Coach on 30 August 2007 to take up a full-time with Bolton Wanderers as coaching co-ordinator, Maurice Malpas took temporary charge. In January 2008 the SFA appointed a new full-time coach in Billy Stark, who left his job as manager of Second Division side Queen's Park to take the position. Stark resigned from the position in November 2014.

Tenure Head coach/Manager 1975–1982 Andy Roxburgh 1982–1986 Walter Smith 1986–1993 Craig Brown 1993–1998 Tommy Craig 1998–2002 Alex Smith 2002–2005 Rainer Bonhof 2005–2006 Maurice Malpas (caretaker) 2006–2007 Archie Knox 2007–2008 Maurice Malpas (caretaker) 2008–2014 Billy Stark 2014–2015 Ricky Sbragia (caretaker) 2015 Danny Lennon (caretaker) 2015–2016 Ricky Sbragia 2016–2026 Scot Gemmill2026–Tony Docherty

Players

Leading appearances

RankNameYearsClubsAppearancesGoalsGPG Ratio.1 Christian Dailly1990–1996Dundee United2 Steven Pressley1993–1996Rangers, Coventry City, Dundee United3 Allan Campbell2017–2020Motherwell4 Paul Hanlon2009–2012Hibernian5 Craig Easton1997–2001Dundee United5 Gary Naysmith1996–1999Heart of Midlothian5 Glenn Middleton2018–2022Rangers8 Shaun Maloney2001–2005Celtic8 Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen2023–PresentLeeds United, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Dunfermline Athletic, Wigan Athletic10Stuart Armstrong2010–2014Dundee United10Jamie McCunnie2001–2005Dundee United, Ross County, Dunfermline Athletic10Jordan McGhee2013–2017Heart of Midlothian10Ross McCrorie2016–2020Rangers, Portsmouth, Aberdeen

Leading goalscorers

RankNameYearsClubsAppearancesGoalsGPG Ratio.1 Fraser Hornby2018–2020Everton, Kortrijk, Reims2 Jordan Rhodes2011–2012Huddersfield Town2 Scott Booth1990–1993Aberdeen4 Chris Maguire2008–2010Aberdeen4 Jamie Murphy2008–2010Motherwell4 Jim Hamilton1995–1997Dundee, Heart of Midlothian4 Mark Burchill1998–2001Celtic8 Steven Fletcher2006–2008Hibernian8 Tony Watt2012–2013Celtic8 Gerry Creaney1990–1992Celtic8 Steven Thompson1997–1999Dundee United8 Simon Lynch2002–2003Celtic8 Steven Naismith2005–2008Kilmarnock, Rangers8 Shaun Maloney2001–2005Celtic8 Christian Dailly1990–1996Dundee United8 Glenn Middleton2018–2022Rangers8 James Wilson2025–PresentHeart of Midlothian, Tottenham Hotspur

Eligibility The team is for players born in the year 21 years before the starting year of each tournament. As each tournament normally takes two years to complete, players can continue to play for the under-21 team after their 22nd birthday. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the under-21s, senior side and then return to the under-21 side. It is now also possible to play for one country at youth level and another country at senior level (providing the player is eligible). For instance, Nigel Quashie played for England under-21s and Scotland. Until the late 1980s, teams were allowed to select some over-age players in the under-21 team, similar to the present arrangement in football at the Summer Olympics.

Current squad The following players were selected for the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Azerbaijan and Bulgaria in September 2026.

Caps and goals updated as of 30 September 2026, after the match against Azerbaijan. Clubs correct as of 11 August 2026.

Recent call-ups The following players have also been called up to the Scotland under-21 squad within the last twelve months and remain eligible (current clubs shown).

INJ Player withdrew from the squad for that game due to injury SNR Player withdrew from the squad for that game after being promoted to the senior squad WTH Player withdrew from the squad for that game for an unspecified reason

Past squads 1996 European Championship squad

Notes

References

External links

SFA (under 21s) Uefa Under-21 website Contains full results archive Complete U21 results and player statistics at FitbaStats Complete U23 results and player statistics at FitbaStats