Inside Scotland’s World Cup squad 2026: Scott McTominay the star of Steve Clarke’s roster, but injuries strike at bad time originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Scotland will play at a World Cup in 2026 for the first time in 28 years.
Steve Clarke’s side secured qualification for the tournament in North America in dramatic fashion last November, beating Denmark 4-2 to leapfrog them in the standings and claim an automatic place in the group stage.
The Tartan Army last played on the biggest stage at France ’98. Steve Clarke was not involved in that tournament, but he will get his chance as coach this year to lead Scotland to the knockout phase of a major tournament for the very first time.
After seven years in charge, Clarke has a handful of favourites within the ranks, and several of the names on his final World Cup squad will come as little surprise. However, injuries and mixed recent form among some of the less concrete options make a few of his other choices more difficult to predict.
Below is a run-down of Scotland’s World Cup roster and where their strengths and weaknesses may lie.
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Scotland World Cup squad 2026
Scotland will announce their final World Cup roster on Tuesday, May 19.
May 11 was the deadline to submit to FIFA an official preliminary list of 35-55 players, from which teams are required to name a final roster by Saturday, May 30.
Below is a predicted squad list. This page will be updated once Clarke has announced his selections.
Caps and stats are correct as of May 11.
| Position | No. | Player | Club | Age | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Craig Gordon | Hearts (Premiership, Scotland) | 43 | 83 | |
| GK | Angus Gunn | Nottingham Forest (Premier League, England) | 30 | 21 | |
| GK | Liam Kelly | Rangers (Premiership, Scotland) | 30 | 2 | |
| DEF | Grant Hanley | Hibernian (Premiership, Scotland) | 34 | 66 | |
| DEF | Jack Hendry | Al Ittifaq (Pro League, Saudi Arabia) | 31 | 37 | |
| DEF | Aaron Hickey | Brentford (Premier League, England) | 23 | 19 | |
| DEF | Dominic Hyam | Wrexham (Championship, England) | 30 | 2 | |
| DEF | Ross McCrorie | Bristol City (Championship, England) | 28 | 2 | |
| DEF | Scott McKenna | Dinamo Zagreb (HNL, Croatia) | 29 | 49 | |
| DEF | Anthony Ralston | Celtic (Premiership, Scotland) | 27 | 25 | |
| DEF | Andy Robertson | Liverpool (Premier League, England) | 32 | 92 | |
| DEF | John Souttar | Rangers (Premiership, Scotland) | 29 | 22 | |
| DEF | Kieran Tierney | Celtic (Premiership, Scotland) | 28 | 55 | |
| MID | Ryan Christie | Bournemouth (Premier League, England) | 31 | 66 | |
| MID | Lewis Ferguson | Bologna (Serie A, Italy) | 26 | 23 | |
| MID | Billy Gilmour | Napoli (Serie A, Italy) | 24 | 45 | |
| MID | Andrew Irving | Sparta Prague (First League, Czechia) | 26 | 1 | |
| MID | John McGinn | Aston Villa (Premier League, England) | 31 | 85 | |
| MID | Kenny McLean | Norwich City (Championship, England) | 34 | 56 | |
| MID | Scott McTominay | Napoli (Serie A, Italy) | 29 | 69 | |
| MID | Lennon Miller | Udinese (Serie A, Italy) | 19 | 4 | |
| FWD | Che Adams | Torino (Serie A, Italy) | 29 | 46 | |
| FWD | Findlay Curtis | Rangers (Premiership, Scotland) | 19 | 2 | |
| FWD | Lyndon Dykes | Charlton Athletic (Championship, England) | 30 | 50 | |
| FWD | Ben Gannon-Doak | Bournemouth (Premier League, England) | 20 | 12 | |
| FWD | George Hirst | Ipswich Town (Championship, England) | 27 | 8 | |
| FWD | Lawrence Shankland | Hearts (Premiership, Scotland) | 30 | 18 |
Scotland players to watch at World Cup
The star of Clarke’s team is Scott McTominay, who has gone from strength to strength since leaving Manchester United for Napoli in 2024.
Last season’s Serie A MVP took his domestic form into Scotland’s qualifying campaign, scoring a stunning bicycle kick to break the deadlock against Denmark in the game that sealed their place at the finals.
Liverpool‘s Andy Robertson and Aston Villa‘s John McGinn bring more Premier League know-how to the group, but the loss of striker Tommy Conway to injury this month has depleted their attacking options. Bournemouth‘s Ben Gannon-Doak has only played 19 minutes in the league since hamstring surgery, and Che Adams recently missed game time for Torino with a muscle issue.
Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland will be under pressure to perform after hitting 20 goals in all competitions this season, but he too missed eight league games with a hamstring injury and did not play in the March internationals.
MORE:Scotland’s full match schedule in Group C at the World Cup
Who is Scotland coach at the World Cup?
Steve Clarke is one of the longer-serving coaches at the World Cup, having been in charge of Scotland since 2019.
The former Chelsea defender, now 62, had managerial spells at West Brom, Reading, and Kilmarnock before taking over national-team responsibilities.
He has won 33 of his 76 matches in charge, which is more victories than any other single Scotland boss has managed.
Generally, Clarke’s spell has been a positive one, even though there have been difficult periods where fans and pundits have called for a change. They missed out on qualification for the 2022 World Cup after losing a playoff to Ukraine 3-1, but at the end of that year, they achieved promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League. They then qualified for Euro 2024 with two games to spare, but, once again, they could not get beyond the group stage at the tournament proper.
Relegation in the Nations League and a defeat to Greece in 2026 qualifying saw pressure mount on the coach, but his team responded in style to beat Denmark 4-2 and snatch the automatic place at the finals.
Can Scotland replace players on World Cup roster?
Once the final roster is official, participating teams at the World Cup could only make changes before the first game of the tournament, and only in the case of extraordinary circumstances.
According to the official tournament rules (page 32), “a player listed on the final list may only be replaced in the event of serious injury or illness up until 24 hours before the start of his team’s first match.” The exception concerns goalkeepers, who can be replaced in such circumstances at any time.
Scotland World Cup history
Scotland last qualified for the World Cup in 1998 — a tournament where they also faced Brazil in the group stage.
The challenge for Clarke and his players is to get through the group stage, something Scotland have never done at a men’s Euros or World Cup before. The coach will hope for good fortune at his third major finals in charge.
- Current FIFA World Ranking: 43 (April 2026)
- World Cup titles: 0
- World Cup appearances (last): 8 (France 1998)
- How Scotland qualified, W-L-D: UEFA Group C winners, 4-1-1
- World Cup record:
- Games: 23 GP (4W, 7D, 12L)
- Goal differential: -16 (25 GS, 41 GA)
Scotland World Cup schedule
Scotland, as a pot 2 team, were drawn into Group C. Their competitors in the group will be Brazil, Morocco, and Haiti.
| Pos | Team | PTS | GP | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brazil | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2. | Morocco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3. | Haiti | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4. | Scotland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group C fixtures
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| Fri, Jun. 13 | 6 p.m. | Brazil vs. Morocco | MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ) |
| Sat, Jun. 13 | 9 p.m. | Haiti vs. Scotland | Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA) |
| Thu, Jun. 19 | 6 p.m. | Scotland vs. Morocco | Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA) |
| Thu, Jun. 19 | 9 p.m. | Brazil vs. Haiti | Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, PA) |
| Wed, Jun. 24 | 6 p.m. | Scotland vs. Brazil | Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, FL) |
| Wed, Jun. 24 | 6 p.m. | Morocco vs. Haiti | Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA) |
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