McCall was picked for England and Scotland under-21 sides on the same day in 1984, and chose to join the England under-21 squad for their game against Turkey. However he was only picked as a substitute and the referee blew the final whistle, with McCall waiting to come on. He later told Scottish newspaper Glasgow Herald, "I felt it was a mistake almost from the start. I was put on the bench and they tried to bring me on with a minute to go. But I took my time re-tying my boots and generally warming up and luckily didn't get on, otherwise that would have been that." Since he had not actually played for England, McCall was still eligible for Scotland. He eventually switched allegiances to the latter, for whom he qualified through his father. He made his Scotland debut at under-21 level in March 1988, ironically against England. McCall made one more appearance for Scotland under 21s, against France in 1990. Later the same year, McCall was called up to the Scottish senior team. He won his first cap on 28 March 1990 in a 1–0 friendly victory over Argentina. He played in five friendlies in 1990 which earned him a call up to the Italia 90 World Cup squad. He played in all three of Scotland's World Cup games. They lost their first game 1–0 to Costa Rica, before McCall scored what would be his only international goal against Sweden in a 2–1 victory. However, Scotland failed to qualify for the knock-out stage when they were defeated 1–0 by Brazil. McCall represented Scotland at the European Championships in 1992, when they again failed to go beyond the group stage after defeats to Netherlands and Germany, and in 1996 when they were edged out in the first round by Netherlands. Scotland failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1994. McCall played just two qualifying games for the 1998 World Cup and his last cap came in a friendly against Denmark on 25 March 1998, as he was overlooked for the final squad for the finals in France along with team-mate Ally McCoist. He was capped a total of 40 times for Scotland, scoring one goal. McCall's caps included 11 while at Everton and 29 during his career with Rangers. Coaching and managerial career Early coaching career In July 2000, McCall accepted his first coaching role, when he was