A FATHER from Edinburgh who went viral for taking his son out of school to watch the Euros in Germany has said he is “confident” Scotland will win when they play against Hungary.
Iain Meiklejohn, 48, and his 12-year-old son Aleks arrived in Frankfurt for the start of Euro 2024 and have followed the Scottish football team over the course of the tournament by travelling to German cities including Munich and Cologne.
Scotland play Hungary on Sunday and Mr Meiklejohn, who is a tour guide, hailed his team’s chances.
He told the PA news agency: “I’m feeling confident. A win gives us four points which should be enough to get through to the second round.
“I’m going for 1-0 Scotland.”
Meiklejohn took his son out of school to attend the Euros and went viral on X for a message he posted on June 12, which shows an email he sent to his son’s school saying Aleks will not be attending from June 13 until “whenever Scotland are eliminated from Euro 2024”.
The email also said: “We will be going on an educational trip through Germany visiting several cities where we will study the extreme emotional highs and lows that only a Scotland fan goes through.
“I will ensure Aleks completes a report on his return in full detail.”
The post received more than 6.3 million views and over 25,000 likes.
Meiklejohn said: “There are literally hundreds of Scottish school kids over here enjoying the Euros.
“It’s not been an issue in the past taking him out of school for travelling reasons.”
He and his son are to wear Scotland tops and kilts for the Scotland versus Hungary match and will also hang their Scottish flag in the stadium, which has the letters TTTA on it, which stands for “Two Teekos Tartan Army”.
Explaining the story behind the letters, he said: “My dad had the nickname ‘Teeko’ for about 70 years.
“When I came along I was naturally nicknamed ‘Wee Teeko’ (wee being the typical Scottish word for small).
“When Aleks was born Iwona (my wife) and I honoured the name by giving Aleks the middle name Teeko.
“So after three generations, he is the only ‘official’ Teeko.”
He added Aleks has been to 24 countries including Colombia and South Africa and travelling “broadens the mind”, and his son will learn through being around different cultures, traditions, language and food.
He said the pair have “loved” their time in Germany so far, with highlights including match day in Cologne, where Scotland and Switzerland drew 1-1 and the general atmosphere.
“The general feeling between the Scotland fans and the locals has been superb,” he added.
He said his son has “played football ever since he could walk” and plays for Ratho United’s under-13s team.
It is not the first time Aleks has attended international football tournaments.
He has been to matches for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, amongst others.
Lifelong football fan Mr Meiklejohn has accompanied his son on the trips, and has been to several others including the 1998 World Cup in France.
The pair plan on returning home on June 24 and if Scotland get through the qualifiers, they will be back to Germany.
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “Any unauthorised absence would be dealt with in line with the council’s policy on this.”
