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)

footballbox
date = April 25, 1957
team1 = fb-rt|ITA
score = 1-0
report=
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Rome----footballbox
date = May 1, 1957
team1 = fb-rt|NIR
score = 3-0
report=
team2 = fb|POR
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Belfast----footballbox
date = January 15, 1958
team1 = fb-rt|NIR
score = 2-1
report=
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Belfast

World Cup finals Sweden 1958

First round (Group 1)

footballbox
date = June 17, 1982
21:15
team1 = fb-rt|YUG
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=59/results/matches/match=1044/report.html (Report)]
score = 0 - 0
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = La Romareda, Zaragoza
Ref: Fredriksson (SWE)
Attendance: 25,000----footballbox
date = June 21, 1982
21:15
team1 = fb-rt|HON
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=59/results/matches/match=959/report.html (Report)]
score = 1 - 1
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 = Laing 60'
goals2 = Armstrong 10'
stadium = La Romareda, Zaragoza
Ref: Chan (HKG)
Attendance: 15,000----footballbox
date = June 25, 1982
21:15
team1 = fb-rt|ESP
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=59/results/matches/match=902/report.html (Report)]
score = 0 - 1
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 =
goals2 = Armstrong 47'
stadium = Estadio Luis Casanova, Valencia
Ref: Ortíz (PAR)
Attendance: 49,562

econd Round (Group D)

footballbox
date = June 3, 1986
12:00
team1 = fb-rt|ALG
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=68/results/matches/match=379/report.html (Report)]
score = 1–1
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 = Zidane 59'
goals2 = Whiteside 6'
stadium = Estadio Tres de Marzo, Guadalajara
Ref: Butenko (URS)
Attendance: 22,000

----footballbox
date = June 7, 1986
12:00
team1 = fb-rt|ESP
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=68/results/matches/match=551/report.html (Report)]
score = 2–1
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 = Butragueño 1'
Salinas 18'
goals2 = Clarke 46'
stadium = Estadio Tres de Marzo, Guadalajara
Ref: Brummeier (AUT)
Attendance: 28,000----footballbox
date = June 12, 1986
12:00
team1 = fb-rt|BRA|1968
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=68/results/matches/match=441/report.html (Report)]
score = 3–0
team2 = fb|NIR
goals1 = Careca 15', 87'
Josimar 42'
goals2 =
stadium = Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara
Ref: Kirschen (GDR)
Attendance: 51,000

Qualification, 1988-present

Group matches

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FIFA World cup 2006

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Euro 2008

"See the main article 2008 UEFA Championship Group F"

Northern Ireland have unsuccessfully competed for qualification to the 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 [cite news | title = NI back to reality | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5311744.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2006-09-04 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] .

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 [cite news | title = Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5321964.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2006-09-06 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] . Northern Ireland then recorded a 0-0 draw against Denmark in Copenhagen [cite news | title = Denmark 0-0 N Ireland | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5416780.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2006-10-07 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] and a 1-0 win against Latvia at Windsor Park [cite news | title = N Ireland 1-0 Latvia | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6042682.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2006-10-11 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] . Northern Ireland played Liechtenstein in March 2007, picking up a 4-1 win [cite news | title = Liechtenstein 1-4 N Ireland | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6473569.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2007-03-24 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] . 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, [cite news | title = N Ireland 2-1 Sweden | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6504857.stm | publisher = BBC Sport | date = 2007-03-28 | accessdate = 2007-06-01] 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 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7100041.stm] . On the 21st 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.

Results

Group F fixtures were settled at a meeting between the participants in Copenhagen, Denmark. [cite web|author=Lars Berendt, Pia Schou Nielsen and Jacob Wadland|title=Danmark starter og slutter med Island |publisher=DBU |accessdate=September 3 |accessyear=2006|url=http://dbu.dk/news/newsShow.aspx?id=99015 |language=Danish]

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References