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
England 2006 FIFA World Cup bid England 2006 FIFA World Cup bid The England 2006 FIFA World Cup bid was the Football Association's unsuccessful bid for the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The other official bids came from Brazil, South Africa, Morocco and successful bidder Germany. England hosted the 1966 FIFA World Cup and had the campaign been successful, England would have become the fourth nation to host the World Cup for a second time. The country had also hosted Euro 96. England had unsuccessfully attempted to host the 1990 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup. Amongst the bid submission delegation