Northern Ireland at the FIFA World Cup Northern Ireland at the FIFA World Cup The Northern Ireland national football team have appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on three occasions. Their best World Cup performance was in their first appearance in the finals, the 1958 World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals after beating Czechoslovakia 2–1 in the play-off. They were knocked out by France, losing 4–0. In the 1958 competition Northern Ireland became the least populous country to have qualified for the World Cup, a record that stood until Trinidad & Tobago qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Northern Ireland remains, however, the
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 9 The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised the Netherlands, Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Macedonia. This group had one team fewer than the other eight. The group was won by the Netherlands, who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As runners-up, Norway were in contention for the UEFA play-off stage, but their record was the worst of all runners-up and so they were eliminated. The fixtures were decided at a meeting held in Amsterdam, Netherlands