Topic summary
Northern Ireland national football team
(20 July 2026)
Ireland 0–13 England
(Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882)
as Northern Ireland
Ireland 1–4 England(Belfast, Northern Ireland; 7 October 1950)
France 3–1 Northern Ireland(Colombes, France; 11 November 1952)
Ireland 7–0 Wales
(Belfast, Ireland; 1 February 1930)
as Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland 5–0 Cyprus
(Belfast, Northern Ireland; 21 April 1971)
Faroe Islands 0–5 Northern Ireland(Landskrona, Sweden; 11 September 1991)
Northern Ireland 5–0 Bulgaria
(Belfast, Northern Ireland; 15 October 2024)
Ireland 0–13 England(Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882)
as Northern Ireland
Netherlands 6–0 Northern Ireland(Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2 June 2012)
The Northern Ireland national football team (also known as the Green and White Army - GAWA) represents Northern Ireland in men's international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its national team included players from all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
Although part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has always had a representative side that plays in major professional tournaments – whether alongside the rest of Ireland pre-1922 or as its own entity – though not in the Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has always recognised United Kingdom representative sides, and currently Northern Irish athletes compete for either Great Britain or Ireland.
Northern Ireland has competed in three FIFA World Cups, reaching the quarter-final stage in the 1958 and 1982 tournaments. Northern Ireland held the accolade of being the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup Finals from their first appearance in 1958 until 2006, when Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 2006 World Cup. At UEFA Euro 2016, the team made its first appearance at the European tournament and reached the round of 16. Northern Ireland last qualified for the World Cup in 1986.