Scottish clubs have never faced off in European tournaments at any stage; the closest this came to occurring was in the 1965–66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup when Heart of Midlothian lost a playoff to Zaragoza with Dunfermline already drawn to meet the winners in the next round,[1] and in the same competition two years later when, knowing Dundee would be the next opponent, Rangers were eliminated by eventual winners Leeds United.
[19] A similar situation occurred in the early 2020s: the UEFA Euro 2020 international tournament, including four matches at Hampden, was delayed for a year and played in 2021.
[11] Between 1995 and 2008, UEFA ran the Intertoto Cup, a summer competition for sides that had not qualified for the other European competitions with the sides progressing the furthest qualifying for the UEFA Cup (it had operated independently since the 1960s, but no clubs from Scotland – among other nations – took part in that era).
Scottish clubs were only involved five times, with Hibernian being the closest side to qualify for the UEFA Cup through this tournament, losing on away goals in the 2006 edition.
The competition was initially only open to teams from cities that hosted trade fairs and where these teams finished in their national league had no relevance, therefore the number of entrants varied each year, and at times was restricted to one per city (Clyde were denied entry to the 1967–68 competition when they finished in 3rd place in the Scottish League, as Rangers finished above them and were given the single Fairs Cup place for Glasgow; the Bully Wee never played in Europe).
[22] The next year, Rangers made the semi-final but again were eliminated by an English opponent who went on to lift the trophy, this time Newcastle United.
[30] Welsh champions The New Saints progressed furthest of the four, being defeated in the semi-finals by St Mirren.
[31] This time the guest teams entered in the second round, with TNS and Crusaders both reaching the semi-finals.