Northern Ireland national football team – record in major tournaments

This page covers the record of the Northern Ireland national football team in the Football World Cup and European Football Championship. In the "Results" section, home result is always given before away result. Where Northern Ireland only played a team once, (h) and (a) indicates home and away.

Results

Qualification Brazil 1950(Group 1)

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	England	6	3	3	0	0	14	3
2	Scotland	4	3	2	0	1	10	3
3=	Ireland	1	3	0	1	2	4	17
3=	Wales	1	3	0	1	2	1	6

England qualified. Scotland also qualified, but withdrew as they had previously decided to participate only if they finished top of the group. FIFA offered the place to  France, the runner-up of Group 3. They initially accepted, but later declined. FIFA decided not to allow anyone else to qualify, leaving the World Cup one team short.

This group was also the 1950 British Home Championship.

---

---

Qualification Switzerland 1954 (group 3)

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	6	3	3	0	0	11	4	+7
Scotland	3	3	1	1	1	8	8	0
Northern Ireland	2	3	1	0	2	4	7	-3
Wales	1	3	0	1	2	5	9	-4

---

---

Qualification Sweden 1958

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Northern Ireland	5	4	2	1	1	6	3
2	Italy	4	4	2	0	2	5	5
3	Portugal	3	4	1	1	2	4	7

---

---

World Cup finals Sweden 1958

First round (Group 1)

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv
West Germany	4	3	1	2	0	7	5	1.40
Northern Ireland	3	3	1	1	1	4	5	0.80
Czechoslovakia	3	3	1	1	1	8	4	2.00
Argentina	2	3	1	0	2	5	10	0.50

---

---

---

Play-off:

---

Quarter final

Qualification, 1960-1982

Tournament	Section	Placing	Results	Notes
Euro 1960, France	Did not enter			No UK teams entered the tournament.
Chile 1962	Group 8: 3 teams, 1 qualifies	2nd, 2pts/8	West Germany 3-4, 1-2  Greece 2-0, 1-2
Euro 1964, Spain	knockout, must win 3 rounds	Lost in 3rd round	Poland 2-0, 2-0  Spain 0-1, 1-1
England 1966	Group 5: 4 teams, 1 qualifies	2nd, 8pts/12	Switzerland 1-0, 1-2  Netherlands 2-1, 0-0  Albania 4-1, 1-1
Euro 1968, Italy	Combined results of 1967 and 1968 British Home Championships: 4 teams, 1 goes on to playoff	4th, 3pts/12	England 0-2, 0-2  Scotland 1-0, 1-2  Wales 0-0, 0-2
Mexico 1970	Group 2: 3 teams, 1 qualifies	2nd, 5pts/8	Soviet Union 0-0, 1-3  Turkey 4-1, 3-0
Euro 1972, Belgium	Group 4: 4 teams, 1 goes on to playoff	3rd, 6pts/12	Soviet Union 1-1, 0-1  Spain 1-1, 0-3  Cyprus 5-0, 3-0
West Germany 1974	Group 6: 4 teams, 1 qualifies	3rd, 5pts/12	Bulgaria 0-0, 0-3  Portugal 1-1, 1-1  Cyprus 3-0, 0-1
Euro 1976, Yugoslavia	Group 3: 4 teams, 1 goes on to playoff	2nd, 6pts/12	Yugoslavia 1-0, 0-1  Sweden 1-2, 2-0  Norway 3-0, 1-2
Argentina 1978	Group 4: 4 teams, 1 qualifies	3rd, 5pts/12	Netherlands 0-1, 2-2  Belgium 3-0, 0-2  Iceland 2-0, 0-1
Euro 1980, Italy	Group 1: 5 teams, 1 qualifies	2nd, 9pts/16	England 1-5, 0-4  Republic of Ireland 1-0, 0-0  Bulgaria 2-0, 2-0  Denmark 2-1, 0-4	The first-ever matches against the Republic of Ireland.
Spain 1982	Group 6: 5 teams, 2 qualify	2nd, 9pts/16 QUALIFIED	Scotland 0-0, 1-1  Sweden 3-0, 0-1  Portugal 1-0, 0-1  Israel 1-0, 0-0

First Round (Group 5)

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Northern Ireland	4	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1
Spain	3	3	1	1	1	3	3	0
Yugoslavia	3	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
Honduras	2	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1

---

---

Second Round (Group D)

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
France	4	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
Austria	1	2	0	1	1	2	3	-1
Northern Ireland	1	2	0	1	1	3	6	-3

---

Qualification, 1984-86

Tournament	Section	Placing	Results	Notes
Euro 1984, France	Group 6: 5 teams, 1 qualifies	2nd, 11pts/16	West Germany 1-0, 1-0  Austria 3-1, 0-2  Turkey 1-0, 0-1  Albania 3-1, 0-0	Northern Ireland were level with West Germany on points; the Germans got through on goal difference, +10 to +3.
Mexico 1986	Group 3: 5 teams, 2 qualify	2nd, 10pts/16 QUALIFIED	England 0-1, 0-0  Romania 3-2, 1-0  Finland 2-1, 0-1  Turkey 2-0, 0-0

World Cup Mexico '86

Group D

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Brazil	6	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5
Spain	4	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3
Northern Ireland	1	3	0	1	2	2	6	-4
Algeria	1	3	0	1	2	1	5	-4

---

---

Qualification, 1988-present

Tournament	Section	Placing	Results	Notes
Euro 1988, West Germany	Group 4: 4 teams, 1 qualifies	3rd, 3pts/12	England 0-2, 0-3  Yugoslavia 1-2, 0-3  Turkey 1-0, 0-0
Italy 1990	Group 6: 5 teams, 2 qualify	4th, 5pts/16	Spain 0-2, 0-4  Republic of Ireland 0-0, 0-3  Hungary 1-2, 0-1  Malta 3-0, 2-0
Euro 1992, Sweden	Group 7: 5 teams, 1 qualifies	3rd, 7pts/16	Yugoslavia 0-2, 1-4  Denmark 1-1, 1-2  Austria 2-1, 0-0  Faroe Islands 1-1, 5-0
USA 1994	Group 3: 7 teams, 2 qualify	4th, 13pts/24	Spain 0-0, 1-3  Republic of Ireland 1-1, 0-3  Denmark 0-1, 0-1  Lithuania 2-2, 1-0  Latvia 2-0, 2-1  Albania 3-0, 2-1

3 points for a win from Euro '96 onwards.

Tournament	Section	Placing	Results	Notes
Euro 1996, England	Group 6: 6 teams, 1 qualifies Six 2nd place teams qualify Two 2nd place teams have playoff	3rd, 17pts/30	Portugal 1-2, 1-1  Republic of Ireland 0-4, 1-1  Austria 5-3, 2-1  Latvia 1-2, 1-0  Liechtenstein 4-1, 4-0
France 1998	Group 9: 6 teams, 1 qualifies One 2nd place team qualifies Eight 2nd place teams have playoffs	5th, 7pts/30	Germany 1-3, 1-1  Ukraine 0-1, 1-2  Portugal 0-0, 0-1  Armenia 1-1, 0-0  Albania 2-0, 0-1
Euro 2000, Netherlands & Belgium	Group 3 5 teams, 1 qualifies One 2nd place team qualifies Eight 2nd place teams have playoffs	4th, 5pts/24	Germany 0-3, 0-4  Turkey 0-3, 0-3  Finland 1-0, 1-4  Moldova 2-2, 0-0
South Korea & Japan 2002	Group 3: 7 teams, 1 qualifies, 2nd gets a playoff	5th, 11pts/30	Denmark 1-1, 1-1  Czech Republic 0-1, 1-3  Bulgaria 0-1, 3-4  Iceland 3-0, 0-1  Malta 1-0, 1-0
Euro 2004, Portugal	Group 6: 5 teams, 1 qualifies, 2nd gets a playoff	5th, 3pts/24	Greece 0-1, 0-2  Spain 0-0, 0-3  Ukraine 0-0, 0-0  Armenia 0-1, 0-1
Germany 2006	Group 6: 6 teams, 1 qualifies Two 2nd place teams qualify Six 2nd place teams have a playoff	4th, 9pts/30	England 1-0, 0-4  Poland 0-3, 0-1  Austria 3-3, 0-2  Wales 2-3, 2-2  Azerbaijan 2-0, 0-0
Euro 2008, Switzerland & Austria	Group F: 7 teams, 2 qualify	3rd, 20pts/36₣	Spain 3-2, 0-1  Sweden 2-1, 1-1  Denmark 2-1, 0-0  Latvia 1-0, 0-1  Iceland 0-3, 1-2  Liechtenstein 3-1, 4-1	David Healy became the record goalscorer in a single UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign with 13 goals in 11 games.
South Africa 2010	Group 3: 6 teams, 1 qualifies Eight of nine runners-up get a playoff	Commences August 2008	Czech Republic  Poland  Slovakia  Slovenia  San Marino

Details

Euro 2004

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Greece	18	8	6	0	2	8	4
Spain	17	8	5	2	1	16	4
Ukraine	10	8	2	4	2	11	10
Armenia	7	8	2	1	5	7	16
Northern Ireland	3	8	0	3	5	0	8

Group matches

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

FIFA World cup 2006

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	25	10	8	1	1	17	5	12
Poland	24	10	8	0	2	27	9	18
Austria	15	10	4	3	3	15	12	3
Northern Ireland	9	10	2	3	5	10	18	-8
Wales	8	10	2	2	6	10	15	-5
Azerbaijan	3	10	0	3	7	1	21	-20

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Euro 2008

See the main article 2008 UEFA Championship Group F

Northern Ireland have unsuccessfully competed for qualification to the finals of the Euro 2008 competition. They were seeded in the sixth pot and drawn against Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Latvia, Iceland and Liechtenstein. In an unprecedented move, the Irish Football Association offered the national team and all its staff a £1 million pound bonus if the team qualified for Euro 2008.^[1]

Their chances of qualifying got off to a poor start as a poor defensive display saw them go down 3-0 at home to Iceland. In their second game, they came back to defeat Spain 3-2 with a David Healy hat trick, the first in Belfast for thirty-five years since George Best, and their first win over Spain since the 1982 World Cup.^[2] Northern Ireland then recorded a 0-0 draw against Denmark in Copenhagen^[3] and a 1-0 win against Latvia at Windsor Park.^[4] Northern Ireland played Liechtenstein in March 2007, picking up a 4-1 win.^[5] The victory included another Healy hat-trick and Grant McCann's first international goal. A 2-1 victory against Sweden on 28 March saw Northern Ireland go top of Group F, having played more games than the other teams,^[6] and they occupied a qualification spot at the midway point. Northern Ireland did not play in the June games and fell to third, but they defeated Liechtenstein 3-1, putting Northern Ireland into 2nd place. They slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Latvia in Riga, which dealt their qualification hopes a huge blow, even though later on the same day, both Sweden and Spain drew. Defeat in Iceland (2-1) four days later has seen them drop out of a qualification place again, a further draw against Sweden kept their hopes alive. On 17 November 2007 Northern Ireland defeated Denmark 2-1 at Windsor Park with goals from Warren Feeney and David Healy. Healy's thirteenth goal of the qualifying campaign saw him eclipse Davor Šuker's record of twelve, established during qualification for Euro 96.^[7] On the 21 November, Northern Ireland lost the chance of qualifying, after losing 1-0 to Spain, and Latvia losing 2-1 to Sweden. Northern Ireland did finish the group in third place on 20 points.

As a result of this campaign, Northern Ireland have improved their standing, and were seeded in the third pool for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, higher than the sixth pool allocated for the current competition.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 12 9 1 2 23 8 +15 28  Sweden 12 8 2 2 23 9 +14 26  Northern Ireland 12 6 2 4 17 14 +3 20  Denmark 12 6 2 4 21 11 +10 20  Latvia 12 4 0 8 15 17 −2 12  Iceland 12 2 2 8 10 27 −17 8  Liechtenstein 12 2 1 9 9 32 −23 7

Results

Group F fixtures were settled at a meeting between the participants in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[8]

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

References