Ivory Coast Vs Scotland - The Stats Pack

New weekly feature on ScotishFootball.info

As part of my commitment to increasing and improving the content available to you on the website, I am going to start offering “Stats Packs” before each game week in Scottish Football. This is rather than just pointing out notable occurrences after the fact….“this is the first time this thing has happened since 199x”. I’ll still do that too though, and that will improve and be more regular as well.

With the Stats Packs, I’ll aim to cover all four SPFL divisions, all Scotland national team matches, and all Scottish teams in European football. There will be at least 3-5 stats per match.

The first Stats Pack will be an extended one, for tonight’s Scotland match against Ivory Coast. This one is free for all subscribers, but going forward the stats packs will join everything else on the website, in being only for paying subscribers. Thank you

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IVORY COAST VS SCOTLAND: Hill Dickinson Stadium - Tuesday 7:30pm, live on BBC Scotland

THE VENUE - LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND

• Scotland are playing in Liverpool for the first time since a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Wales in October 1977 at Anfield. Their only other men’s internationals in the city were against England in 1895 and 1911.

• This will be Scotland’s first men’s match in England since the 0-0 Euro 2021 draw with England at Wembley on 18th June 2021.

• Scotland have won only 2 of their last 10 matches in England; and none this century. We beat Switzerland 1-0 at Villa Park in Euro ‘96 and England 1-0 at the Old Wembley in the Euro 2000 playoff in November 1999.

SCOTLAND

• This is Scotland’s first senior men’s match against Ivory Coast. “The Elephants” will be the 85th different national team Scotland have faced and the sixth from Africa.

• Scotland’s overall record against African nations is W2 D1 L4, with seven goals scored and 12 conceded. Their last such match was a 2-2 friendly draw with Nigeria in London in May 2014.

• Scotland are facing back-to-back non-European opponents for the first time since friendly losses against Peru (0-2) and Mexico (0-1) in May and June 2018.

• Charlie Mulgrew is the last Scotland player to score against African opposition, netting after 10 minutes against Nigeria in 2014 (our 2nd goal was an own goal).

• Scotland’s last winning goal against African opposition was Kris Boyd’s 71st-minute strike against South Africa in August 2007.

• Scotland have won only 2 of their last 12 friendlies overall, drawing 3 and losing 7. Their only victories in that run were against Gibraltar and Liechtenstein.

• Che Adams is Scotland’s most recent friendly scorer, having hit a hat-trick against Liechtenstein in June 2025.

THE OPPOSITION

• Ivory Coast qualified for the 2026 World Cup by going unbeaten through all 10 qualifiers, conceding zero goals.

• They were knocked out of AFCON 2025 in the Quarter-Final by Egypt (3-2), with Mo Salah scoring the winner.

• Ivory Coast have only lost 2 of their last 13 matches. They kept nine clean sheets in those 13 games, winning 8 of them.

• Key players include Amad Diallo (Man United), Franck Kessié (Al-Ahli) Ibrahim Sangaré (Nottingham Forest), Simon Adingra (Monaco), and Evann Guessand (Crystal Palace).

IF THIS HAPPENS, THEN…

• If Ivory Coast score, it will be the 100th goal conceded under Steve Clarke’s Scotland (scored 108).

• If Scotland do not score, it will be the first time they have failed to score in consecutive matches since March 2024, when they lost 0-4 to the Netherlands and 0-1 to Northern Ireland.

• If captain Andy Robertson plays, he would win his 92nd cap for Scotland, moving him into outright second for the most in men’s national team’s history (overtaking Jim Leighton on 91). Only Kenny Dalglish (102) has played more often.

• Read more about the records available to Robertson in the below article:

Further reading on caps, win records and 20-year old jerseys:

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