Christian Dailly

Dundee United

Dailly was born in Dundee and first signed professional terms with Dundee United on 2 August 1990, aged sixteen years old. He became the youngest-ever player to appear for Dundee United when he made his first-team debut on 21 August 1990, though this record has since been broken by Greg Cameron. Playing as a striker and scoring in each of his first three games, Dailly quickly shot to prominence, making his Scotland Under 21 side debut just a month later. He won the Scottish Youth Cup with the club in 1990–91. In his debut season, Dailly managed five goals in eighteen appearances. His debut season would become his most prolific, and the 1991–92 season brought just eight games with no goals. In the 1992–93 season, Dailly scored four from fourteen appearances and firmly established himself as a regular in the 1993–94 season with 38 league appearances, and not only another four goals, but also the Scottish Cup, when his shot rebounded off the post for Craig Brewster to score the only goal against Rangers. The 1994–95 season ended in disappointment with relegation, with yet another four goals from 33 games. In 1995–96, Dailly was firmly established as a centre-back and started the season as United's club captain, although he was subsequently replaced by Dave Bowman. He scored just once in 30 appearances. It was an important goal though, as it ensured United drew the away leg of the short-lived league-playoff against Partick Thistle, and subsequently won the…

On 11 September 1990, Dailly became the youngest player to appear for his country at under-21 level when he featured at the age of 16 against Romania at Easter Road. By the time Dailly was too old to continue playing at this level he had received 35 caps, a Scottish record for appearances at under-21 level. In May 1993, he was included in Andy Roxburgh's Scotland squad for the first time for a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match in Estonia. He earned his first cap four years later when he made his full international debut in May 1997, aged 23, in a 1–0 defeat against Wales. His first goal came in just his second match, and just four days after his international debut, when his early goal helped Scotland to a 3–2 away victory over Malta in a friendly match. Dailly had a long Scotland career, winning 67 caps and scoring 6 goals. He captained Scotland a total of 12 times and was selected for the Scotland squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Dailly won his last cap as a substitute on Friday 30 May 2008, in a 3–1 friendly defeat against the Czech Republic. Dailly was famously caught unaware after Germany's 2–1 defeat of Scotland on 10 September 2003. He returned to the dressing room after the match shouting, "Cheats! Fucking cheats! Fucking diving cheats!" The outburst was being broadcast live on BBC Scotland as then Scotland manager Berti Vogts was being interviewed by Chick Young. The player would have remained anonymous had it not been for Vogts shouting "Christian!"…

Club

International

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dailly goal.

His sister, Stefani Dailly, is a broadcast journalist who has worked for STV News. His son, Harvey, signed a development contract with Dundee United in August 2015. He made his first team debut in August 2017, but was released in January 2018.