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
2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted major events, such as 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cup, 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship, 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and 1968 Summer Olympics Football final matches, hosted the third place match and the final match of the tournament. In addition to host nation Mexico, 23 nations qualified from 6 separate continental competitions. The draw for the group stage took place on 17 May 2011 at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Sala Nezahualcóyotl concert Hall. The seeding was as follows: The winners and runners-up from each group, as well as the best four third-placed teams, qualified for the first