Scotland defeated rivals England in the qualifying round and finished top of Group 4, which also included the Netherlands.

Scotland hosted the 1970 tournament, where they won a group containing Bulgaria, Sweden and Italy, but then lost 1–0 to Netherlands in the semi-final.

In the 1978 tournament, hosted by Poland, Scotland topped a group containing Germany and Italy to qualify for the semi-final, where they lost on penalties to Yugoslavia.

The age group of the competition was adjusted upwards by one year for the 2002 tournament, with Scotland entering an under-19 team from then on.

[4] In 2018, recognising a gap in progression for the best players of the relevant age (several of whom were Performance School participants fast-tracked into the under-17s but not ready for the step up to under-19s), the SFA announced that the under-18 team would be re-established to offer more match experience as part of the same group.