European Football Championship 2016 / Northern Ireland

This article covers the Northern Irish national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . For Northern Ireland it was the first European Championship finals participation, with which the Northern Irish were able to qualify for a major tournament for the first time after participating in the World Cup in 1986 .

qualification

Kyle Lafferty , Northern Ireland's top scorer in qualifying

Northern Ireland completed the qualification for the European Championship in Group F . The Northern Irish, who were only drawn from the fifth-best pot in the group draw, started qualifying with a 2-1 win in Hungary, against which they had previously lost in four games. After an expected victory against the Faroe Islands, they then also won against the Greeks drawn as group heads before they lost their only game in Romania. Since the Romanians conceded the fewest goals of all qualifying participants, but also scored few goals themselves and therefore played five draws, the Northern Irish were able to prevail as group winners and make their first qualification perfect on the penultimate matchday. Overall, coach Michael O'Neill used 26 players, including Gareth McAuley and Oliver Norwood in all ten games. Most qualifying goals for the Northern Irish scored Kyle Lafferty , who had a significant share in the qualification with seven goals, where he was only nine times used. In the course of qualifying, Northern Ireland improved from 95th to 29th in the FIFA World Ranking .

Games

All results from a Northern Irish perspective.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
07.09.2014	Groupama Aréna , Budapest ( HUN )	Hungary	2: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Tamás Priskin (75th), 1: 1 Niall McGinn (81st), Kyle Lafferty (88th)
10/11/2014	Windsor Park , Belfast	Faroe Islands	2: 0 (2: 0)	1-0 Gareth McAuley (6th), 2-0 Kyle Lafferty (20th)
14/10/2014	Karaiskakis Stadium , Piraeus ( GRC )	Greece	2: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Jamie Ward (9th), 2-0 Kyle Lafferty (51st)
11/14/2014	Arena Națională , Bucharest ( ROU )	Romania	0: 2 (0: 0)	0: 1, 0: 2 Paul Papp (74th, 79th)
03/29/2015	Windsor Park , Belfast	Finland	2: 1 (2: 0)	1-0, 2-0 Kyle Lafferty (33rd, 38th), 2-1 Berat Sadik (90th + 1 ′)
06/13/2015	Windsor Park , Belfast	Romania	0-0
04.09.2015	Tórsvøllur , Tórshavn ( FRO )	Faroe Islands	3: 1 (1: 1)	1-0 Gareth McAuley (12th), 1: 1 Jóan Edmundsson (36th) 2-1 Gareth McAuley (71st), 3-1 Kyle Lafferty (75th)
07.09.2015	Windsor Park , Belfast	Hungary	1: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Richárd Guzmics (74.), 1: 1 Kyle Lafferty (90. + 3 ′)
08/10/2015	Windsor Park , Belfast	Greece	3: 1 (1: 0)	1-0 Steven Davis (35th), 2-0 Josh Magennis (49th), 3-0 Steven Davis (58th), 3-1 Christos Aravidis (87th)
10/11/2015	Olympic Stadium , Helsinki ( FIN )	Finland	1: 1 (1: 0)	1: 0 Craig Cathcart (31st), 1: 1 Paulus Arajuuri (87th)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Northern Ireland	10	6th	3	1	016: 800	+8	21st
2.	Romania	10	5	5	0	011: 200	+9	20th
3.	Hungary	10	4th	4th	2	011: 900	+2	16
4th	Finland	10	3	3	4th	009:100	−1	12
5.	Faroe Islands	10	2	0	8th	006:170	−11	06th
6th	Greece	10	1	3	6th	007:140	−7	06th
As of October 11, 2015

preparation

After the end of the qualification, the Northern Irish won 1-0 against Latvia in Belfast on November 13th . On March 24, 2016 in Cardiff they met the Welsh , who were also able to qualify for the finals for the first time, and had to accept the 1-1 equalizer with a penalty converted in the 89th minute. With Conor Washington a newcomer came to his first assignment. Four days later, Slovenia , which had failed in the playoffs, was defeated 1-0 by a goal from Conor Washington in Belfast and another newcomer was added in Michael Smith . This is the first time they have played ten games in a row without a defeat.

In the immediate preparation, the Northern Irish won 3-0 against Belarus in Belfast on May 27th . The last test before the final round was a game against Slovakia on June 4th in Trnava , another newcomer to the European Championship, who won 3-1 against group opponents Germany on May 29th. In the goalless draw, 30 years after the retirement of goalkeeping legend Pat Jennings , Aaron Hughes was the first Northern Irish outfield player to make his 100th international match.

Squad

A preliminary roster of 28 players was presented by team manager Michael O'Neill on May 18, 2016, which was then reduced to 23 players on May 28. The players came from 22 clubs in three countries. Only West Bromwich Albion had two players. Only ten players played in a first division, eight played in the second, four in the third and one in the fourth English division. No player plays in Northern Irish leagues and thus Northern Ireland is one of the four teams without players from domestic leagues alongside Iceland, Wales and Ireland.

No.	position	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut
12	goalkeeper	Roy Carroll	Notts County	Sep 30 1977	44	0	1997
23	goalkeeper	Alan Mannus	St. Johnstone FC	May 19, 1982	8th	0	2004
01	goalkeeper	Michael McGovern	Hamilton Academical	July 12, 1984	12	0	2010	4th
06th	Defense	Chris Baird	Derby County	Feb 25, 1982	79	0	2003	1
20th	Defense	Craig Cathcart	Watford FC	0Feb 6, 1989	29	2	2010	4th		1
05	Defense	Jonny Evans	West Bromwich Albion	0Jan. 3, 1988	50	1	2006	4th
22nd	Defense	Lee Hodson	Milton Keynes Dons	0Oct 2, 1991	16	0	2010
18th	Defense	Aaron Hughes	Melbourne City FC	0Nov 8, 1979	100	1	1998	3
04th	Defense	Gareth McAuley	West Bromwich Albion	0Dec 5, 1979	62	7th	2005	4th	1
02	Defense	Conor McLaughlin	Fleetwood Town	July 26, 1991	19th	0	2011	1
15th	Defense	Luke McCullough	Doncaster Rovers	Feb 15, 1994	5	0	2014
17th	Defense	Paddy McNair	Manchester United	Apr 27, 1995	10	0	2015	2
14th	midfield	Stuart Dallas	Leeds United	Apr 19, 1991	14th	1	2011	4th		1
08th	midfield	Steven Davis	Southampton FC	0Jan. 1, 1985	84	8th	2005	4th		1
13	midfield	Corry Evans	Blackburn Rovers	17th July 1990	34	1	2009	3
03	midfield	Shane Ferguson	Millwall FC	July 12, 1991	26th	1	2009	1
07th	midfield	Niall McGinn	Aberdeen FC	July 20, 1987	42	2	2008	3	1
16	midfield	Oliver Norwood	Reading FC	Apr 12, 1991	35	0	2010	4th
09	attack	Will Grigg	Wigan Athletic	03rd July 1991	8th	1	2012
10	attack	Kyle Lafferty	Birmingham City	16 Sep 1987	52	17th	2006	3
21st	attack	Josh Magennis	FC Kilmarnock	May 15, 1990	19th	1	2010	3
19th	attack	Jamie Ward	Nottingham Forest	May 12, 1986	23	2	2011	4th		1
11	attack	Conor Washington	Queens Park Rangers	May 18, 1992	5	2	2016	4th

Trainer: Michael O'Neill

Players who were only in the preliminary roster

On May 28, 2016, five players were removed from the provisional squad.

position	Surname	society	Date of birth	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut
Defense	Daniel Lafferty	Burnley FC	0Apr 1, 1989	13	0	2012
Defense	Michael Smith	Peterborough United	04th Sep 1988	1	0	2016
midfield	Ben Reeves	Milton Keynes Dons	Nov 19, 1991	2	0	2014
attack	Liam Boyce	Ross County	0Apr 8, 1991	7th	0	2011
attack	Billy McKay	Dundee United	Oct 22, 1988	11	0	2013

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b} as of June 25, 2016
2. ↑ there is also an own goal
3. ↑ ^{a b} Status: May 27, 2016

Finals

Nice Lyon Paris (VR + AF) Saint-Georges-de-Reneins

Venues (green = won, red = lost, black = not yet played), quarters (blue)

In the draw for the six final groups on December 12, 2015, Northern Ireland was placed in Pot 4. Northern Ireland was drawn into group C with world champions Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Against Germany there were previously only two wins in 14 games with eight defeats and four draws, both in qualifying for the European Championship 1984 , when the Northern Irish missed the European Championship finals only because of fewer goals, as the direct comparison did not count at the time. In a major tournament, the two have only met in the preliminary round of the World Cup in 1958 and thus for the first time, where they separated 2-2 and Germany took on as world champions as in 2016. Against Poland, the record before the European Championship was positive: In eleven games there were four wins, two draws and three defeats. The last win came in March 2009 in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup , which both missed, the last defeat four years earlier in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup . Ukraine had previously opposed the Northern Irish four times and had two wins against them in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup and two goalless draws in the qualifying matches for the 2004 European Championship , both of which they missed.

The Northern Irish lost the first game against superior Poles with a defensive attitude with 0: 1 and had to accept that the Poles equalized their balance against them. With a more offensive attitude, they beat Ukraine 2-0, with substitute Niall McGinn's second goal coming in the sixth minute of stoppage time. She had brought defender Gareth McAuley , who scored the first European Championship goal for the "Green & White Army" shortly after half-time. Against Germany they had no chance again and it was thanks to goalkeeper Michael McGovern and Latte und Pfosten that they only lost 1-0. But that means they have an even goal difference and are one of the four best thirds in the group in the round of 16. There they meet Wales. This means that they can meet defending champions Spain, England or Germany again in the final at the earliest. Against the Welsh there have been 27 wins, 24 draws and 44 defeats in 95 international matches so far. The last time they met was on March 24, 2016 in Cardiff , where the Welsh came to 1-1 with a penalty in the 89th minute. The Northern Irish lost the first knockout match between two UK teams in a major football tournament with an own goal by their defensive boss Gareth McAuley 1-0.

Despite the round of 16, the team received an enthusiastic welcome on their return to Belfast. In the FIFA World Ranking , Northern Ireland lost 29 points and fell by three places as a result of the European Championship games.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	2	1	0	003-000	+3	07th
2.	Poland	3	2	1	0	002-000	+2	07th
3.	Northern Ireland	3	1	0	2	002: 200	± 0	03
4th	Ukraine	3	0	0	3	000: 500	−5	00

Sun., June 12, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Nice
Poland	-	Northern Ireland	1: 0 (0: 0)
Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Décines-Charpieu ( Lyon )
Ukraine	-	Northern Ireland	0: 2 (0: 0)
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Paris
Northern Ireland	-	Germany	0: 1 (0: 1)

Knockout round

Round of 16 on June 25, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Paris
Wales	-	Northern Ireland	1: 0 (0: 0)

See also

• Northern Irish National Football Team / European Championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (5th November 2015)
3. ^ North. Ireland 1-0 Slovenia
4. ↑ "World Champion ends black series - Portugal and Netherlands with prestige victories" , fifa.com
5. ^ "Aaron Hughes 100 Not Out," irishfa.com
6. ^ "Northern Ireland squad to play Belarus" , irishfa.com
7. ↑ “Northern Ireland's EURO squad is up” , uefa.com
8. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Newcomers and long-running hits: Numbers - Numbers - Numbers: Albania is the biggest outsider among bookmakers , European Football Championship 2016, Paris, sid, June 10, 2016
9. ↑ “UEFA EURO 2016 final draw” , uefa.com
10. ↑ n-tv.de: "Northern Ireland receives its EM heroes"