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Andy Robertson has spent the better part of a decade trying to drag Scotland back to football’s biggest stage. After a 28-year exile from the World Cup, the captain believes the nation owes his squad something rare in Scottish football: genuine belief.
Scotland’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada, ended one of the longest droughts in European football. Robertson, the Liverpool left-back who has become the face of Scottish football’s revival, is now preparing to lead his country into a Group C that includes Haiti, Morocco, and Brazil.
The night that changed everything
Scotland punched their ticket on November 18, 2025, with a 4-2 victory over Denmark. Robertson called it “one of the greatest nights of my life.” For a player who has lifted the Champions League with Liverpool, that’s not a throwaway line.
Robertson, who is approaching the record for the second-highest number of caps in Scottish football history, was at the center of it all.
A group that demands respect
Scotland’s World Cup schedule reads like a difficulty curve from a video game. They open against Haiti on June 14, face Morocco on June 19, and close the group stage against Brazil on June 24, 2026.
Morocco reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
More than football
Robertson’s World Cup preparations carry an emotional weight beyond the sporting stakes. The Scotland squad plans to pay tribute to the late Diogo Jota, Robertson’s former Liverpool teammate, during the tournament. The tributes will reportedly include reading a letter from Jota’s widow.
What this means for Scottish football’s future
The last time Scotland appeared at a World Cup, in France in 1998, the squad went out in the group stage. That result, combined with the decades of failure that followed, created a culture of managed expectations.
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