A scuffed leather ball roughly the size of a small melon, hidden for more than four centuries inside the rafters of Stirling Castle, will share a Miami stadium Wednesday night with Vinicius Junior, Carlo Ancelotti and the Tartan Army.

The world's oldest known soccer ball, on loan from Scotland's Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, is making its first appearance at a FIFA World Cup match when Scotland faces Brazil at Hard Rock Stadium, a moment its caretakers are calling the most significant outing in the artifact's modern history.

The ball dates to roughly 1540-1570, the era of James V and the young Mary, Queen of Scots, who lived in the castle as a child.

Workers found it in the late 1970s, lodged behind oak paneling installed in the roof of the Queen's Chamber.

Made from thick leather panels stitched together and turned inside out for aerodynamics, with a pig's bladder forming the inner core, it is recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest soccer ball in the world and is the prize exhibit in the Smith's collection of more than 40,000 objects.

Caroline Mathers, director of the Stirling Smith, has leaned into the romance of the find, telling a museum video that Mary "was a keen sportswoman" who "enjoyed football, golf, jousting, tennis," and adding, "So I like to imagine that Mary had a kick about with this ball at some point."

On the ball's reception in Miami, Mathers offered a lighter line: "We brought the ball over to Miami ... and I think it's going to bring us good luck."

The artifact arrived at Miami International Airport on Saturday and was welcomed in a ceremony hosted by the Consulate General of Brazil and airport officials.

It is the headline piece of the Coral Gables Museum exhibition "Diplomacy and the Beautiful Game: From Scotland to Brazil to Haiti," which runs through Saturday.

"It's quite a historic moment, the ball arriving here," Faroque Hussain, honorary consul for Brazil, told a local broadcaster.

Scotland enters the Group C clash needing a result against five-time champion Brazil after splitting matches in Boston with a 1-0 win over Haiti and a 1-0 loss to Morocco.

The Tartan Army, the Scottish supporters who took over Boston during those fixtures, has now decamped to South Florida for kickoff at 6 p.m. ET. Lucy Casot, chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, framed the loan as cultural diplomacy, saying the ball is "a powerful reminder of the global reach of Scotland's collections."