thumb|right|The Tartan Army at the opening match of the [[1998 FIFA World Cup, a tournament at which the Scots won an award for good behaviour]]
The Tartan Army are fans of the Scotland national football team. They have won awards from several organisations for their friendly behaviour and charitable work. Scotland fans were criticised at that time for their hooliganism, particularly after they invaded the Wembley pitch and destroyed the goalposts after the 2–1 win against England in 1977.
Two years later, 349 arrests were made and a further 144 fans were ejected from Wembley Stadium during the 1979 British Home Championship match, mainly for drunk and disorderly behaviour and vandalism. The behaviour in that latter match prompted the Scottish Sports Minister Alex Fletcher to apologise to colleagues and led to the creation of the Scotland Travel Club. The Tartan Army have won a number of awards for their vocal support and friendly nature.
Matches against England, which used to be played on an annual basis as part of the British Home Championship, were eventually stopped after 1989 due to violence and organised hooliganism. Both matches that were played between the countries in November 1999 in qualification for UEFA Euro 2000 had associated problems. Police spokesmen downplayed the incidents after both games, however. The Metropolitan Police adopted a "zero tolerance" approach for the second game, but the number of arrests was "comparatively small" and the "vast majority" of supporters were well behaved. The fans had been praised by the mayor of Zagreb for their behaviour after a match against Croatia in the same competition. In 2005, the Scotland Travel Club became the Scotland Supporters Club, with sections for younger fans being established. The UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign saw membership numbers increase dramatically to a capacity of 27,500, with a waiting list of over 10,000. As of August 2010, the club was at its maximum capacity of 35,000 members and did not accept new applications.
In August 2008, Irish Football Association chief executive Howard Wells criticised jeering from Scottish supporters during the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen", before a friendly international match against Northern Ireland. The SFA, who had pleaded with fans not to jeer the anthem, The British anthem was used by Scotland until the 1970s, but it was replaced by "Scotland the Brave" due to consistent booing at matches. This issue recurred when Scotland played Liechtenstein in September 2010, as their national anthem uses the same tune as the British anthem. The British anthem was again booed by Scotland fans when the team played Northern Ireland in the 2011 Nations Cup, and England in a September 2023 friendly.
The Tartan Army has been a consistent opponent of the concept of a Great Britain team, particularly its participation in the 2012 Olympic Games, due to concerns that such participation would endanger the separate status of Scotland within international football.
Scotland qualified for UEFA Euro 2020, their first major finals since the 1998 World Cup. The tournament was spread around Europe, meaning that two of three group stage games were played at Hampden Park, but over 20,000 Scotland fans travelled to London for the game against England. This was despite Scotland only being allocated 2,600 tickets, due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, Rangers still provided the single largest proportion with 21%, while west-of-Scotland Catholics, traditionally associated with Celtic, were still notably under-represented. The Tartan Army Children's Charity (TACC) and Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal (TASA) are both registered Scottish charities run by Scotland fans, raising money for disadvantaged children in Scotland and in the countries visited by fans following the team. were introduced to Kemal Karic, a local boy who had lost his leg in the shelling of Sarajevo.
TACC has donated funds to projects for disabled and blind children in Ukraine, Georgia and North Macedonia. In 2009, £30,000 was donated to each of two projects in South Africa, where the Tartan Army had hoped to visit for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The TACC, which is the nominated charity of the SFA, also organise trips for disadvantaged Scottish children to watch Scotland play at Hampden Park. in April 2022, their recording was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales and streams exceeding 200,000 units.
Official tartan
thumb|upright|The Tartan Army tartan
Prior to the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Ian and Alan Adie, two Glasgow businessmen, trademarked the name "Tartan Army" in 1997. They approached the Scottish Tartans Authority to assist in creating a tartan. Keith Lumsden designed the corporate tartan on their behalf and it was registered on 1 March 1997 under number 2389 with both the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) and the Scottish Tartans World Register (STWR).
It is mostly Balmoral Blue and Torea Bay , with Freedom Red , Gainsboro White , and Golden Poppy .
The Scottish Tartans Society notes that the design was taken originally from Royal Stewart and modified having Black Watch added as a background.
Away with the Tartan Army – Scotland's Best Moments
In June 2021, the BBC produced a documentary hosted by Off the Balls Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan counting down the top 10 great Scotland supporting memories ranked by a group of journalists, pundits and former players and including interviews with Tartan Army members.