List of Scotland international footballers born outside Scotland

This is a list of players who have played international football for the Scotland national football team and who were born outside Scotland. For the purposes of international football the football world governing body, FIFA, considers Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to be distinct and individual countries.[1][2] This has happened since the early days of international football, as Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird (born in England) and Henry Renny-Tailyour represented Scotland in the 1870s.[3] The first black international football player, Andrew Watson, was born in British Guiana and represented Scotland during the 1880s.[4]

The majority of these players were born in England. In a friendly match against Cyprus in November 2011, five of the sixteen players used by Scotland were born in England. The rules of selection were quite strict until 1971, when national teams were allowed to pick players if one of their parents were born in that country. This was later relaxed to allowing selection for one grandparent being born in Scotland, although it was temporarily tightened again, which prevented Nigel Spackman from playing for Scotland.[3] The Home Nations have since made an agreement that also allows players who have been educated for at least five years in the relevant country to be selected by its national team.[5] Jordan Rhodes was selected on this basis.[5]