Northern Irish National Football Team / European Championships

Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( English )
Tuaisceart Éireann ( Irish )
Norlin Airlann ( Ulster Scots )
Balance sheet

European Championship record scorer:	Gareth McAuley and Niall McGinn (1 each)
European Championship record players:	8 players (3 each)
Rank:	28
4 European Championship games 1 win 0 draw 3 defeats 2: 3 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Northern Ireland 0: 1 Poland Nice ( FRA ); June 12, 2016 Northern Ireland Poland
Biggest European Championship win Northern Ireland 2-0 Ukraine Lyon ( FRA ); June 16, 2016 Northern Ireland Ukraine
Biggest European Championship defeat Northern Ireland 0: 1 Poland Nice ( FRA ); June 12, 2016 Northern Ireland Poland
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2016 )
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 contains a detailed description of the Northern Irish national football team for men at European championships and the qualifications for them. Northern Ireland took part in the finals of the European Championship for the first time in 2016, where the team survived the preliminary round but were unlucky in the round of 16.

Overview

Northern Ireland was able to qualify for the 2016 European Championship finals for the first time in October 2015.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not participated
1964	Spain	not qualified				failed in the round of 16 at later European champions Spain
1968	Italy	not qualified				failed in qualification to world champion England .
1972	Belgium	not qualified				failed in the qualification at the later Vice European Champion Soviet Union .
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				failed in qualifying at the eventual host Yugoslavia .
1980	Italy	not qualified				failed in qualification to England
1984	France	not qualified				failed in qualification due to the worse goal difference to defending champions Germany
1988	BR Germany	not qualified				failed in qualification to England
1992	Sweden	not qualified				failed in qualification to Yugoslavia and Denmark , which was initially not qualified, but was then nominated for the Yugoslavs and won the title.
1996	England	not qualified				failed in the qualification to Portugal and Ireland , which could not qualify either.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified				in the qualification of defending champion Germany and Turkey failed.
2004	Portugal	not qualified				failed in qualifying at the eventual European champions Greece and Spain .
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified				failed in qualifying at the later European champions Spain and Sweden .
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified				failed in the qualification to Italy and Estonia , which could not qualify either.
2016	France	Round of 16	Wales	-	Michael O'Neill	With a win against Ukraine , with defeats against Germany and Poland qualified as one of the best third party for the knockout round. Round of 16 by an own goal .
2021	Europe					Northern Ireland does not provide a venue for the final tournament. In the qualification Northern Ireland is only in third place behind Germany and the Netherlands, but still has the chance to qualify via the playoffs.

EM 1960

Like the other British associations, Northern Ireland did not want to take part in the first European football championship in 1960, which was still held as the "European Cup of Nations".

EM 1964

Four years later, more teams than 1960 wanted to participate, including the Northern Irish coached by Bertie Peacock . Therefore a preliminary round was held upstream. Northern Ireland faced Poland and won the away game on October 10, 1962 2-0. The first qualifying goal for the Northern Irish scored Derek Dougan . Since the home game was won 2-0 seven weeks later, the Northern Irish were in the round of 16. Here Northern Ireland was eliminated by Spain, which then eliminated the Republic of Ireland in the quarter-finals and won the title for the first time as the host of the final round.

EM 1968

For the European Football Championship in 1968, group games were scheduled for the first time in qualifying . Northern Ireland had to compete against the newly crowned world champion England as well as the two other British teams and the European Championship qualification was then also considered the British Home Championship . Northern Ireland lost their home game against England and Scotland at the beginning , then reached a goalless draw against Wales after which Peacock's tenure as team manager ended. He was succeeded by Billy Bingham and under him the Northern Irish won the home game against Scotland. But since the other two games were lost, it was only enough for the last group place. Bingham initially stayed in office, but then failed to qualify for the 1970 World Cup , but got another chance for the 1972 European Championship. In the end, group winners England had one point more than the Scots thanks to the Northern Irish victory against Scotland and qualified for the quarter-finals. Here they met defending champions Spain and prevailed with two wins, qualifying them for the finals of the top four, where they achieved their best ever European Championship result with third place.

European Championship 1972

Four years later, the Northern Irish faced the two former European champions Spain and the Soviet Union as well as Cyprus in qualifying . The Northern Irish only won both games against Cyprus, but reached two 1-1 draws in their home games against the two former European champions, while the away games against both were lost. This put Northern Ireland ahead of the Cypriots, who lost all games in third place. She had started the qualification under Billy Bingham, but after only three games he was replaced by Terry Neill , who took over the position in addition to his actual job at Hull City . Although he could no longer turn the tide, he still looked after the national team in addition to his job at Hull City and later Tottenham Hotspur . Group winners Soviet Union prevailed against Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals and then reached the final of the finals, but had no chance against Germany there .

EM 1976

The final round was held for the last time with four teams in 1976, Northern Ireland failed in the group stage to Yugoslavia and could only leave the two Scandinavian teams Sweden and Norway behind. The Northern Irish started with two away games, losing the first in Norway but then winning in Sweden, which was one of the top eight teams at the 1974 World Cup . And the home game against the Yugoslavs, who were also among the eight best teams at the 1974 World Cup, was won. In the second half of the qualification it went exactly the other way around, so that the Northern Irish ended up second in the group with three wins and three losses. With the end of the qualification, Terry Neill's tenure ended, he was succeeded by Dave Clements , who only stayed in office until May 1976. Yugoslavia then prevailed against Wales in the quarter-finals and was allowed to host the finals, but could not use the home advantage and lost both games.

EM 1980

Four years later, Northern Ireland, which has been coached by Danny Blanchflower since 1976 , who also coached Chelsea , met England as well as Ireland , Bulgaria and Denmark in qualifying for the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams . Northern Ireland won four games, drew once and lost three games, but these clearly (1: 5 in the home game against England and 0: 4 each in Denmark and England) and finished second behind England by a clear margin, which means that they will go to the finals was qualified. With the end in qualification, Danny Blanchflower’s tenure with both the national team and the Londoners ended. They were his only managerial stations. He was followed by Billy Bingham, one of his predecessors, who stayed in office for 14 years and led Northern Ireland to two world championships.

EM 1984

In qualifying for the European Championship in France in 1984, the Northern Irish, who took part in a World Cup for the second time in 1982, had to compete in Group 6 against defending champions Germany, Austria , Turkey and Albania . Northern Ireland lost their first game against Austria and lost their qualification. Both games were won against the defending champions, but in the end they were both tied. The Germans had the better goal difference and were group winners. If the direct comparison had applied, as in later qualifications, the Northern Irish would have qualified for the first time. At least they managed to qualify for the 1986 World Cup , which was their last participation in a major tournament until 2016. However, Germany could not defend its title at the European Championship finals and failed for the first time in a tournament in the group stage.

EM 1988

In qualifying for the European Championship in Germany, the Northern Irish met old friends: England, Yugoslavia and Turkey. The Northern Irish could not build on the good results of the previous qualification, scored only two goals and only won the last game against Turkey, but they were third in the group before the Turks. Group winners were England, but they were eliminated in the group stage at the finals.

EM 1992

In qualifying for the European Championship in 1992 , Northern Ireland met Yugoslavia again, as well as Denmark , Austria and the Faroe Islands , who participated for the first time and surprisingly won their first competitive game against Austria . The Northern Irish could only get three draws in the first five games and only won the sixth and seventh games. The last game was then lost again, but this was no longer relevant for the placement. As third in the group behind Yugoslavia and Denmark, they were eliminated. The Danes, who were actually eliminated, were nominated shortly before the European Championship for the Yugoslavs who were excluded due to UN sanctions because of the Yugoslav wars and sensationally won the title without much preparation.

EM 1996

For the European Championship 1996 in England, which was held for the first time with 16 teams , the Northern Irish, now trained by Bryan Hamilton , had to qualify against Portugal, Ireland, Austria, as well as Latvia and Liechtenstein , which participated for the first time. The Northern Irish could only win the games against Liechtenstein and Austria of their home games, but lost the other three games at home. On the other hand, no game was lost away, in addition to three wins there were two draws. They were equal on points with their southern neighbors, but only finished third because of the worse goal difference. Group winners Portugal qualified for the European Championship finals, the Irish were eliminated in the playoff game of the two worst runners-up in the group against the Dutch.

EM 2000

For the European Championship 2000, the Northern Irish, now managed by Lawrie McMenemy, had to deal in a group with defending champions Germany, Turkey, Finland and Moldova . The Northern Irish could only win the home game against Finland and draw two against Moldova. All other games were lost, and so it was only enough for the penultimate place in the group. Group winners Germany failed in the finals for the second time as defending champions in the preliminary round. After the missed qualification McMenemy resigned as team manager, he was replaced by Sammy McIlroy , who missed the 2002 World Cup .

EM 2004

The qualification for the EM 2004 was even worse for Northern Ireland. In a group with Greece , Spain , Ukraine and Armenia only three draws were made. Since the other five games were lost, the Northern Irish finished qualifying for the first time since 1968 from bottom of the group. With that, McIlroy resigned as manager.

EM 2008

Four years later, Northern Ireland, which was now coached by Lawrie Sanchez , had to qualify for the next European Championship against Spain , Sweden , Denmark , Latvia , Iceland and Liechtenstein . The Northern Irish lost the opening game at home against Iceland 3-0, but then won 3-2 against Spain and remained undefeated in the following five games. Of the remaining five games only one could be won but three were lost. So in the end it was only enough for 3rd place. After all, David Healy , who had scored 13 of the 17 Northern Irish goals, set a new goal record, which was only set eight years later by the Pole Robert Lewandowski . Spain as group winners and Sweden as second went to the European Championship finals, where they met again in the group stage and the Spaniards won the title for the second time. With the missed qualification, the term of office of Sanchez, who already had a contract with Fulham FC , ended. He was succeeded by Nigel Worthington , who was previously an interim coach at the English second division club Leicester City .

EM 2012

Four years later, the Northern Irish failed to qualify again . In a group with Italy, Estonia , Serbia , Slovenia and the Faroe Islands, they started with a 1-0 win in Slovenia, but then only managed to win in the home game against the Faroe Islands. So it was only enough for the penultimate place and the term of Worthington was thus ended. Group winners without defeat were the Italians, who then also reached the final at the finals, but lost it significantly against defending champion Spain. The Estonians, who ended up in second place, failed in the playoffs of the group runners-up to Ireland.

EM 2016

Starting line-ups for the Northern Irish’s first European Championship game against Poland

For the first time, 24 teams will take part in the European Championship. For the draw of the qualifying groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, Northern Ireland was only placed in pot 5 and was drawn to the group with the ex-European champions Greece. Other opponents were Romania , Hungary , Finland and again the Faroe Islands.

Northern Ireland, coached by Michael O'Neill since 2011 and only winning one game under him in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup , was one of the surprises in qualifying. The Northern Irish started qualifying with two away wins and one home win, but then lost no game in Romania after that. With a 3-1 win in the penultimate game against Greece, they qualified early and for the first time for the European Championship finals. They were joined by the Romanians on the last day of the match, while Hungary only has the chance to qualify for the finals via the playoffs of the group runners-up. Since England and Wales qualified for the first time, three British teams are taking part in a European Championship finals for the first time. The last three British teams to compete in a major tournament was at the 1986 World Cup when England, Northern Ireland and Scotland qualified. For the group draw on December 12, 2015, Northern Ireland was assigned to Pot 4 with the worst UEFA coefficient of all participants. The Northern Irish were drawn in Group C with world champions Germany, Poland and the Ukraine. In their first European Championship match they were defeated by the Poles 0-1 with a purely defensive tactic. In the second game against Ukraine, which had lost their opening game with Germany 2-0, they took a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute through Gareth McAuley . In the seventh minute of stoppage time, Niall McGinn managed another goal to make it 2-0. For the first time since beating hosts Spain 1-0 at the 1982 World Cup , Northern Ireland won another major football tournament. Despite the following defeat against Germany, Northern Ireland is qualified as one of the four best third-placed group for the knockout round. In the round of 16 they will now face the Welsh, who finished first in their group ahead of England. In a muddled game Gareth McAuley underwent an own goal in the 75th minute that could not be equalized.

EM 2021

Northern Ireland did not apply to host games for the first pan-European European Championship finals. The Northern Irish faced Germany, the Netherlands , Belarus and Estonia in the qualification , in which the organizers of the finals also had to take part . The Northern Irish started with two wins each against the Eastern Europeans and led the table after half of the games. Then they lost at home to Germany 2-0 and in the Netherlands after 1-0 lead with two goals in stoppage time 1: 3. Since they could not win the home game against the Dutch and split goalless, they had no chance to qualify directly before the last game in Germany and lost there with 1: 6 - the Northern Irish's biggest defeat in a European Championship - Qualification game. However, you still have the opportunity to earn a starting place via the playoffs of the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League . They first have to compete in Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 2020 and would have home rights against the winner of the game Slovakia against Ireland if they win.

Player with the most goals at European championships

Gates	player	Year (goals)
1	Gareth McAuley	2016 (1)
	Niall McGinn	2016 (1)

As of June 25, 2016

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

When it first appeared, there was no player in the squad who plays in Northern Ireland.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
2016 (4)	23 (1 in Australia, 18 in England, 4 in Scotland)	Aaron Hughes (3); Chris Baird (1), Roy Carroll , Craig Cathcart (4), Stuart Dallas (4), Steven Davis (4), Corry Evans (3), Jonny Evans (4), Shane Ferguson (1), Will Grigg , Lee Hodson , Kyle Lafferty (3), Gareth McAuley (4), Luke McCullough , Conor McLaughlin (1), Paddy McNair (2), Oliver Norwood (4), Jamie Ward (4), Conor Washington (4); Josh Magennis (3), Alan Mannus , Michael McGovern (4), Niall McGinn (3) (C)