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
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The fourth-placed team competed in a home-and-away play-off against the fifth-placed team from Asia. The Fourth Round winner then played the fifth-placed team of the AFC qualifying group, Bahrain, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals. The following four teams from CONCACAF qualified for the final tournament. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for North, Central America and the Caribbean. A total of 34 teams took part (out