After the disappointment of Italia 90, Scotland were looking to qualify for the European Championships and they got off to an emphatic start beating Romania 2-1 which they followed up with a fine 2-1 home victory over Switzerland. Two consecutive draws against Bulgaria stalled the Scots hopes of qualification; however they easily beat San Marino away from home to go top of the group. Scotland came from behind on two occasions in their clash against Switzerland away from home and the result ended 2-2. Scotland needed either three or four points to qualify, and qualification took a huge knock in their penultimate match away to Romania as they lost 1-0.  Victory over San Marino was essential for qualification and they had to also rely on Romania and Bulgaria drawing against each other. Both happened and Scotland, for the first time, was through to the European championships.
Scotland was regarded as no hopers before Euro 92 as they were in a tough group including Holland, Germany and CIS. Despite losing their first match against Holland 1-0 they were outstanding as Paul McStay, Stuart McCall and Richard Gough were all solid in defence for Scotland. In fact Scotland came close early on in the second half in taking the lead as McStay and Gough missed two good opportunities. Against the run of play Holland went in front as Bergkamp struck in from a Gullit corner to give Holland the lead. Brian McClair cam close for Scotland late on, but the result remained 1-0.
Scotland were unlucky in their following match against world champions, Germany, in fact they should have been in front as McAllister and McPherson both had decent strikes at goal. However unfortunately Riedle put Germany into the lead on the half hour mark and Goram conceded a second after a minute into the second half. Despite being 2-0 Scotland were outstanding as Nevin, Durie and Gough all had chances saved and they kept pressing in search of a goal, however the score line remained 2-0 to Germany and Scotland were out. Their final match was arguably their greatest ever performance in a major competition, despite already knowing they were eliminated they played as if they were the European Champions in a 3-0 demolition of the CIS.
Scotland failed to qualify for the 1994 world cup finals as they were in a tough group which comprised of Italy, Portugal and Switzerland, early defeats against Italy and Switzerland made it difficult for Scotland to make any claim for coming on top of the group, and for the first time since 1970 they had failed to qualify for the world cup as they finished fourth in their group.