Irish National Football Team / European Championships

Republic of Ireland
Balance sheet
European Championship record scorer:	Robbie Brady (2)
European Championship record players:	Shane Long , Aiden McGeady , John O'Shea , Stephen Ward (6 each)
Rank:	23
10 European Championship games 2 wins 2 draws 6 defeats 6:17 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Ireland 1-0 England Stuttgart ( FRG ); June 12, 1988 Ireland England
Highest European Championship victories Ireland 1-0 England Stuttgart ( FRG ); June 12, 1988 Ireland 1-0 Italy Lille ( FRA ); June 22, 2016 Ireland England Ireland Italy
Biggest European Championship defeat Ireland 0: 4 Spain Gdansk ( POL ); June 14, 2012 Ireland Spain
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 1988 )
Best results	Round of 16 ( 2016 )
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held

(As of July 10, 2016)

The article provides a detailed account of the Irish national football team at European Championships . Ireland took part in the final round of the European Championship three times, but was eliminated twice in the preliminary round. In 2016, they made it into the knockout round for the first time, which ended against hosts France in the round of 16.

Overview

Ireland took part in the finals of the European Championship for the third time in 2016 and survived the group stage for the first time. Previously, the Irish failed twice in the group matches. In the all-time European Championship table, this was only enough for 21st place before the 2016 European Championship under 28 teams.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not qualified				failed in the preliminary round at the later third Czechoslovakia
1964	Spain	not qualified				failed in the quarter-finals at later European champions Spain
1968	Italy	not qualified				in the qualifying again Spain failed, that could but did not qualify for the final round
1972	Belgium	not qualified				failed in qualification to Italy , which could not qualify for the finals
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				failed in qualification at the USSR , which could not qualify for the finals
1980	Italy	not qualified				failed in qualification to England
1984	France	not qualified				failed in qualifying at the later European runner-up, Spain
1988	BR Germany	Preliminary round	England , Netherlands , USSR	-	England Jack Charlton	after a win against England, a draw against the eventual vice European champions USSR and a defeat against the eventual European champions Netherlands, they were eliminated as third in the group
1992	Sweden	not qualified				failed in qualification to England
1996	England	not qualified				failed in the relegation games to the Netherlands
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified				failed in the relegation games after two draws at Turkey due to the away goals rule
2004	Portugal	not qualified				failed in qualification to Russia and Switzerland
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified				failed in the qualification to the Czech Republic and the later European runner-up, Germany
2012	Poland and Ukraine	Preliminary round	Croatia , Spain , Italy	-	Italy Giovanni Trapattoni	after defeats against Croatia, Italy as well as world champions and defending champions Spain eliminated as bottom group
2016	France	Round of 16	France	-	Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill	After a draw against Sweden , a defeat against Belgium and a win against Italy, qualified for the knockout round as the second-best group third.
2021	Europe					With the Aviva Stadium, Ireland provides a venue for three group matches and a round of 16 or quarter-finals, but has yet to qualify itself. If Ireland qualified, they would be allowed to play two group matches in Dublin .

EM 1960

Ireland also wanted to take part in the first European Football Championship in 1960, which was still called the “European Cup of Nations”. Because 17 participants had registered, there was a preliminary round between two teams so that the number of teams for the round of 16 was limited to sixteen. Ireland was one of these teams. In the first leg, Ireland won 2-0 in front of 37,000 spectators in Dublin on April 5, 1959 with goals from Liam Tuohy and Noel Cantwell . The second leg on May 10, 1959 in Bratislava was won by Czechoslovakia , who took the lead in the fourth minute with a penalty from goalkeeper Imrich Stacho and made everything clear in the second half with three more goals, but won 4-0. Thanks to the better goal difference, the Czechoslovaks qualified for the round of 16 and later reached the finals, where they came third.

EM 1964

Four years later, more teams than 1960 wanted to participate, so the round of 16 was preceded by a preliminary round . Ireland had to play against Iceland and won the home game 4: 2, so that a 1: 1 in the second leg was enough to reach the round of 16. Here they met Austria and were able to reach the quarter-finals after a goalless draw in Vienna with a dramatic 3-2, in which they only scored the winning goal in the 89th minute. In the quarter-finals against Spain, however, came the end, both games were lost: 1: 5 in Spain and 0: 2 in the second leg in front of their own audience. Spain then hosted the finals and won the title for the first time.

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . Ireland had to face European champions Spain, Czechoslovakia and Turkey . Ireland started with a goalless draw against the defending champions and then won against Turkey but then lost three games. The win in the last game in Czechoslovakia brought the Irish nothing, but prevented Czechoslovakia from participating in the European Championship. Spain became group winners, but then failed in the quarter-finals to world champions England .

European Championship 1972

Ireland could not qualify for the European Championship finals in 1972 . In a group with defending champions Italy , Austria and Sweden , the Irish managed only one draw against Sweden in the first game, after which all games were lost, so that Ireland was last in the end. Group winners Italy then surprisingly failed in the quarter-finals to Belgium , which was then allowed to host the final and finished third.

EM 1976

In 1976 the final round was held for the last time with four teams, Ireland failed again in the group stage , this time against the Soviet Union , but much closer than before. The Turkey and Switzerland landed at No. 3 and 4. Here, Ireland won all home games, reached in Turkey a 1: 1 and lost in Switzerland and the USSR only by a single goal. With that they had scored the most goals and conceded the fewest goals, but the USSR had one point more on their account. They then failed in the quarter-finals, however, on eventual European champions Czechoslovakia, who won the title on penalties against defending champion Germany. After all, Don Givens was the top scorer of the entire competition with eight goals scored in qualifying.

EM 1980

In qualifying for the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams, the Irish met in the group against Denmark , England , Northern Ireland and Bulgaria . England prevailed confidently with seven wins and one draw without defeat and were thus qualified as group winners for the finals. Ireland could only win the home games against Denmark and Bulgaria, against England and the neighboring Northern Ireland it was only enough to draw in the home games. Another draw was reached in the first game in Denmark. The other three away games were lost, so that only 3rd place came out in the end. England reached the finals as group winners, but were eliminated in the preliminary round.

EM 1984

In qualifying for the European Championship in France in 1984, the Irish had to compete in Group 7 against Spain , the Netherlands , Iceland and Malta . The Irish only won both games against Iceland and Malta, achieved a 3: 3 in the home game against Spain, but lost the remaining games, so that in the end only 3rd place was achieved. Against Malta, however, achieved the highest international win for the Irish with an 8-0.

EM 1988

After failing to qualify for the 1986 World Cup , the Englishman Jack Charlton , one of the 1966 World Cup heroes, took over as coach for the Irish. He was specifically looking for British-born players of Irish descent who had little chance of being accepted into the British national teams, as they often played for clubs in the English second division. With these players, Charlton built a new team. For the first time, Ireland was able to qualify for the European Championship in Germany. In a very even group with Bulgaria, Belgium , Scotland and Luxembourg , in which only Luxembourg did not win a game, Ireland was the group winner thanks to the support of the Scots. Although the Scots could no longer qualify, they played to win in Bulgaria and won 1-0. This meant that the Irish, who had only lost in Bulgaria, ended up having one point more than the Bulgarians.

In Germany they were drawn into a group with the Netherlands , England and the USSR . The Irish had to play the opening game against the English and since the English had not lost to Ireland since 1949, England were the favorites. In the 6th minute, however, the Irish managed the 1-0 through the Scottish- born Ray Houghton , which the Irish then defended until the end, making Charlton a cult figure in Ireland. In the second game against the USSR, the Irish took the lead after 39 minutes through Ronnie Whelan , but could only defend it until the 75th minute. But they managed to achieve the 1: 1 over time. So Ireland and the USSR led the group with equal points and goals before the last match day and a draw in the last game against the Dutch would have been enough to reach the semi-finals. The Irish also kept the 0-0 for 82 minutes, then Wim Kieft scored the 1-0 winner for the Dutch. As the USSR beat England, they became group winners and the Dutch, who lost 1-0 in their first game against the USSR, came second. In the final, both then met again and the Dutch were able to take revenge for the opening defeat and won a major title for the first time. Ireland said goodbye to third place in the group before England for 24 years from the European Championship stage, but was also able to qualify for a World Cup for the first time under Charlton . There they failed even reached the quarter-finals, where they failed to host Italy.

EM 1992

In qualifying for the European Championship in 1992 Ireland met England again, as well as Poland and Turkey . The Irish did not lose a game, but could only win both games against the Turks, who lost all games, but the other four games ended in a draw. Since the English won their home game against Poland as well as against the Turks, in the end they had one point more than the Irish and went to the European Championship. There they failed in the group stage of the final round, which was last held with eight teams.

EM 1996

For the European Championship 1996 in England, which was held for the first time with 16 teams, the Irish had to qualify against Portugal , Northern Ireland , Austria , Latvia and Liechtenstein . The Irish started with four wins and two draws, then lost both games against Austria before another victory against Latvia. On the last day of the match they lost 3-0 in Portugal. This made them the worst runners-up of the eight groups and had to play against the seventh-placed runner-up in the group, the Netherlands, for the last place in the European Championship finals. The game was played on a neutral place in Liverpool and lost 2-0. After the game, his 93rd in the Irish dugout, Jack Charlton resigned as coach of the Irish. He was succeeded by Mick McCarthy .

EM 2000

Ireland and Scotland also applied to host the EM 2000, but they failed because of the applications from Belgium and the Netherlands. Therefore, the Irish had to try to qualify in sport and compete against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , Croatia , Macedonia and Malta in the qualification . They only finished second again. The decisive factor was a 1-1 draw on the last match day in Macedonia, which meant that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had one point more in the end. Ireland qualified as runners-up in the group but for the playoffs of the runners-up against Turkey and had first home rights. It was 0-0 up to the 79th minute, then Robbie Keane made it 1-0, but only four minutes later the Turks were able to equalize with a penalty and it stayed that way. So it was enough for the Turks to go 0-0 in the home game due to the away goal rule to go to the European Championship and that's how it happened. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Turkey then reached the quarter-finals in the finals, but failed there.

EM 2004

In qualifying for the 2004 European Championships, Ireland met Switzerland , Russia , Albania and Georgia . Ireland started qualifying with two defeats, 2: 4 in Russia and 1: 2 at home against Switzerland, after which Mick McCarthy resigned as national coach. The other qualifying games played the team under Brian Kerr . After a 2-1 win in Georgia, the next setback followed with a 0-0 win in Albania. This was followed by two wins, but after a 1: 1 against Russia and a 2: 2 in Switzerland it was only enough for 3rd place. The Swiss went to the European Championship as group winners, the Russians as well as playoff winners against Wales. Both failed at the EM but in the preliminary round.

EM 2008

Four years later Ireland had to qualify for the next European Championship against the Czech Republic , Germany , Slovakia , Wales , Cyprus and San Marino . The Irish began the qualification under the then record national player Steve Staunton , who took office in March 2006 after missing the qualification for the 2006 World Cup . They started with a 0-1 defeat by a goal from Lukas Podolski in third place in the World Cup, Germany. Then a game against Cyprus was lost for the first time with 2: 5. After that, except for the 0: 1 in the Czech Republic, no more games were lost, although they were drawn five times. Thus, with 10 points behind Germany, only the third place was taken. After the penultimate game, the Irish association had ended their cooperation with Steve Staunton by mutual agreement. Don Givens took responsibility for the last game and a subsequent friendly . The Czech Republic as group winners and Germany went to the EM, where the Germans reached the final for the sixth time, but failed to Spain.

EM 2012

Sean St. Ledger , only Irish goalscorer at Euro 2012

Irish male choir at the game against Spain

Four years later, the Irish were finally able to qualify again . The Irish have been trained by Italian Giovanni Trapattoni since they missed qualification four years earlier . In a group with Russia , surprisingly strong Armenians , Slovakia, Macedonia and Andorra , they started with two wins, but then lost the home game against Russia 3-2, although they were already 3-0 down. After that, no more games were lost. But since the Russians won one more game, they ended up two points ahead and went to the European Championship as group winners. The second-placed Irish had to go to the playoffs of the group runners-up against Estonia. After a 4-0 win in Estonia, a 1-1 home match was enough to secure a place in the European Championship finals.

At the finals, which again took place in two countries, the Irish were drawn into a group with defending champion and world champion Spain , the Italian compatriots of their coach and Croatia. Against Croatia they then lost the opening game with 1: 3, although they only had some hope after the interim equalization by Sean St. Ledger , and against Spain they had no chance at 0: 4. In the last game, in the 2-0 draw against Italy, Keith Andrews , an Irishman , was sent off for the first time with a yellow-red card . The Irish fans performed better than the Irish players. They peacefully supported their team despite the defeats. B. sang the anthem Fields of Athenry for minutes at the game against Spain despite the 4-0 deficit of their team . For this they were awarded a special prize by UEFA, among other things, with which the association honored the exemplary behavior of the fans and the spreading of an impressively positive mood. Giovanni Trapattoni remained in office, but when qualifying for the 2014 World Cup failed, he resigned after the third from last qualifying game. In contrast, the then record national player Shay Given announced his resignation from the national team after 125 games. On September 3, 2014, however, he made his comeback in the national team in the friendly against Oman.

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams took part in the final round. For the drawing of the qualifying groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, Ireland was placed in pot 2 and the group with world champions Germany was drawn. Other opponents were Poland , Scotland , Georgia and the Gibraltar football team , which participated for the first time.

The first two in the group qualified directly for the European Championship finals. If the third-placed team had finished third in the group, they would also qualify directly. The remaining third in the group played four other participants in the playoffs.

Ireland, which is now coached by Martin O'Neill , began qualifying with a draw in Georgia and a 7-0 win against Gibraltar, then reached a 1-1 at world champions Germany, with John O'Shea equalizing in the final minute of his 100th International match succeeded. After a 0: 1 in Scotland and a 1: 1 against Poland, Ireland only finished fourth after half of the games. After a draw against Scotland and three wins in the following games, including the first competitive win against Germany, Ireland was ahead of the last group game tied with Poland and was in third place. But since the last game was lost in Poland, the Irish could not improve and had to go through the relegation games against Bosnia and Herzegovina . Ireland conceded the fewest goals from all six teams (7), but scored the fewest goals from the four best teams (19). In the first playoff game, the team in Zenica reached a 1-1. A 2-0 win was achieved in the second leg. For the draw that took place on December 12, 2015, Ireland was assigned to Pot 4 and was drawn to the group with Belgium, Italy and Sweden.

In the first group game against Sweden , Wes Hoolahan gave the Irish the lead in the 48th. After an own goal by Ciaran Clark in one of the few Swedish goalscoring opportunities, they had to be content with a draw. Against Belgium they kept the 0-0 for one half, but conceded three goals on counterattacks in the second half. Against Italy , which spared some regular players as the group winners, they won 1-0 with a late goal from Robbie Brady and were thus qualified as the second-best group third for the knockout round. There they meet host France. Against the hosts, they took the lead in the second minute with a penalty converted by Brady and were able to defend it for a long time, even though they had chances to improve their results. In the second half they could no longer withstand the increased pressure from the French and lost 2-1.

EM 2021

For the first pan-European European Championship finals, Ireland had applied to host games with the Aviva Stadium and was awarded three group games and one round of 16. In qualifying , in which the organizers of the finals had to take part, the Irish faced Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia and Gibraltar. They started with 1-0 wins in Gibraltar and against Georgia. In Denmark and against Switzerland they played 1-1 and won 2-0 against Gibraltar in between. After that, they couldn't win any more games. In Georgia they split goalless and in Switzerland they lost 2-0. In the last game against Denmark they should have won, but only managed to score 1-1, which meant that Denmark qualified second behind Switzerland. The Irish can still qualify through the playoffs. Although they only finished third in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League , their group opponents Denmark and Wales qualified directly for the final round.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Aiden McGeady , first Irishman with 6 European Championship games

Games	player	Year (games)
6th	Aiden McGeady	2012 (3), 2016 (3)
	Shane Long	2012 (2), 2016 (4)
	John O'Shea	2012 (3), 2016 (3)
	Stephen Ward	2012 (3), 2016 (3)
5	Robbie Keane	2012 (3), 2016 (2)
	James McClean	2012 (1), 2016 (4)
	Jonathan Walters	2012 (3), 2016 (2)
	Glenn Whelan	2012 (3), 2016 (2)

As of June 26, 2016

Player with the most goals at European championships

Robbie Brady , Irish top scorer

Gates	player	Year (goals)
2	Robbie Brady	2016 (2)
1	Wes Hoolahan	2016 (1)
	Ray Houghton	1988 (1)
	Sean St. Ledger	2012 (1)
	Ronnie Whelan	1988 (1)

As of June 26, 2016

Players banned from European championships

In 2012, Sean St. Ledger and Keith Andrews received the second yellow card in the first final group match and Andrews received the yellow-red card . Since the Irish were eliminated this had no further effect.
In 2016 Shane Duffy received the red card in the round of 16 , which does not result in a suspension until World Cup qualification, as Ireland was eliminated. The second yellow cards for Jeff Hendrick and Shane Long in the same game have no effect.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

In all participations, only legionnaires were nominated but no player playing in Ireland. In 1988 most (16) played in England, three in Scotland and one in France, which was not used. Of the 20 players nominated, only seven were born in Ireland, 11 in England and one each in Scotland and Wales.

In 2012 20 players played in England, one each in Russia, Scotland and the USA. Now the majority (15 players) were born in Ireland, only five in England, two in Northern Ireland and one in Scotland. In 2016, 22 are playing in England and one in the USA, five of whom were born in England and two each in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Records

Ireland played the most qualifying matches: 117 (as of November 16, 2015)
Ireland played the most draws in qualifying matches: 35 × (as of November 16, 2015)
Fastest penalty in European Championship history after 1:58 minutes on June 26, 2016 against France.

The highest victory in an EM tournament was not achieved against any country.

The Irish team suffered their biggest defeat at an EM tournament against only one country:
- Croatia Croatia : preliminary round 2012 1: 3

Games

Stuttgart

Hanover

Gelsenkirchen

Poznan (2)

Danzig

Venues (green = positive balance, yellow = balanced balance, red = negative balance, number in brackets = number of games, if> 1)

Ireland has played ten European Championship games so far, two of which have been won, six have been lost and two have ended in a draw. Ireland never played in the opening game and never played against the hosts.

Ireland played once (in the preliminary round in 2012) against the defending champion, who was the first to successfully defend his title, and once again (in the preliminary round in 1988) against the eventual European champions and once against the hosts.

No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
All EM games
1	76951396300 ♠June 12, 1988	1-0	England England	*	Stuttgart ( FRG )	Group game
2	76951675375 ♠June 15, 1988	1: 1	Soviet Union Soviet Union	*	Hanover ( FRG )	Group game
3	76951954450 ♠June 18, 1988	0: 1	Netherlands Netherlands	*	Gelsenkirchen ( Germany )	Group game
4th	77879971850 ♠June 10, 2012	1: 3	Croatia Croatia	*	Poznan ( POL )	Group game
5	77880343950 ♠June 14, 2012	0: 4	Spain Spain	*	Gdansk ( POL )	Group game
6th	77880716050 ♠June 18, 2012	0: 2	Italy Italy	*	Poznan ( POL )	Group game	125th international match for Shay Given
7th	June 13, 2016	1: 1	Sweden Sweden	*	Saint-Denis ( FRA )	Group game
8th	June 18, 2016	0: 3	Belgium Belgium	*	Bordeaux ( FRA )	Group game
9	June 22, 2016	1-0	Italy Italy	*	Lille ( FRA )	Group game
10	June 26, 2016	1: 2	France France	*	Lyon ( FRA )	Round of 16