Republic of Ireland at the FIFA World Cup

Participation of the Republic of Ireland's national football team in the FIFA World Cup

The Republic of Ireland have appeared in the Men's FIFA World Cup on three occasions, in 1990, 1994, and 2002. They have always advanced from the group stage but have never advanced beyond the quarter-finals.

Their first appearance was in Italy at the 1990 Men's FIFA World Cup.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] 1990 was also their best performance in a major championship, where they reached the quarter-finals, despite not winning a single match in 90 minutes.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Overall record

FIFA World Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Position
1930	Did not enter								Declined participation
1934	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	6	9	3/3
1938									2	0	1	1	5	6	2/2
1950									4	1	1	2	6	7	2/3
1954									4	2	0	2	8	6	2/3
1958									4	2	1	1	6	7	2/3
1962									4	0	0	4	3	17	3/3
1966									3	1	0	2	2	5	Lost Play-off
1970									6	0	1	5	3	14	4/4
1974									4	1	1	2	4	5	2/3
1978									4	1	1	2	2	4	3/3
1982									8	4	2	2	17	11	3/5
1986									8	2	2	4	5	10	4/5
1990	Quarter-finals	8th	5	0	4	1	2	3	8	5	2	1	10	2	2/5
1994	Round of 16	15th	4	1	1	2	2	4	12	7	4	1	19	6	2/7
1998	Did not qualify								12	5	4	3	24	11	2/6; Lost Play-off
2002	Round of 16	12th	4	1	3	0	6	3	12	8	3	1	25	6	2/6; Won Play-off
2006	Did not qualify								10	4	5	1	12	5	4/6
2010									12	4	7	1	13	10	2/6; Lost Play-off
2014									10	4	2	4	16	17	4/6
2018									12	5	5	2	13	11	2/6; Lost Play-off
2022									8	2	3	3	11	8	3/5
2026	To be determined								To be determined
2030
2034
Total	Quarter-finals	3/25	13	2	8	3	10	10	149	58	46	45	210	177	—

*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

List of FIFA World Cup matches
Year	Round	Score	Result	Republic of Ireland scorers
1990	Group stage	Republic of Ireland 1–1 England	Draw	Kevin Sheedy 73'
		Republic of Ireland 1–1 Netherlands	Draw	Niall Quinn 71'
		Republic of Ireland 0–0 Egypt	Draw	—
	Round of 16	Republic of Ireland 0–0 (5–4 p) Romania	Draw	—
	Quarter-finals	Republic of Ireland 0–1 Italy	Loss	—
1994	Group stage	Republic of Ireland 1–0 Italy	Win	Ray Houghton 11'
		Republic of Ireland 1–2 Mexico	Loss	John Aldridge 84'
		Republic of Ireland 0–0 Norway	Draw	—
	Round of 16	Republic of Ireland 0–2 Netherlands	Loss	—
2002	Group stage	Republic of Ireland 1–1 Cameroon	Draw	Matt Holland 52'
		Republic of Ireland 1–1 Germany	Draw	Robbie Keane 90+2'
		Republic of Ireland 3–0 Saudi Arabia	Win	Robbie Keane 7' Gary Breen 61' Damien Duff 87'
	Round of 16	Republic of Ireland 1–1 (2–3 p) Spain	Draw	Robbie Keane 90' (pen.)

1990 World Cup

Republic of Ireland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup

1 Bonner
2 Morris
3 Staunton
4 McCarthy (c)
5 Moran
6 Whelan
7 McGrath
8 Houghton
9 Aldridge
10 Cascarino
11 Sheedy
12 O'Leary
13 Townsend
14 Hughton
15 Slaven
16 Sheridan
17 Quinn
18 Stapleton
19 Kelly
20 Byrne
21 McLoughlin
22 Peyton
Coach: Charlton

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
Republic of Ireland	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Netherlands	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Egypt	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2

Note: Republic of Ireland awarded second place by drawing of lots

11 June 1990

21:00

England	1–1	Republic of Ireland
Lineker 8'	(Report)	Sheedy 73'

Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari

Attendance: 35,238

Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (West Germany)

17 June 1990

17:00

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Egypt
	(Report)

Stadio La Favorita, Palermo

Attendance: 33,288

Referee: Marcel Van Langenhove (Belgium)

21 June 1990

21:00

Netherlands	1–1	Republic of Ireland
Gullit 10'	(Report)	Quinn 71'

Stadio La Favorita, Palermo

Attendance: 33,288

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

Knockout phase

25 June 1990

17:00

Republic of Ireland	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Romania
	(Report)
Penalties
Sheedy Houghton Townsend Cascarino O'Leary	5–4	Hagi Lupu Rotariu Lupescu Timofte

Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa

Attendance: 31,818

Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

30 June 1990

21:00

Italy	1–0	Republic of Ireland
Schillaci 38'	(Report)

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 73,303

Referee: Carlos Silva Valente (Portugal)

1994 World Cup

v t e Republic of Ireland squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup
1 Bonner 2 Irwin 3 Phelan 4 Moran 5 McGrath 6 Keane 7 Townsend (c) 8 Houghton 9 Aldridge 10 Sheridan 11 Staunton 12 G. Kelly 13 Kernaghan 14 Babb 15 Coyne 16 Cascarino 17 McGoldrick 18 Whelan 19 McLoughlin 20 D. Kelly 21 McAteer 22 A. Kelly Coach: Charlton

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Mexico	3	1	1	1	3	3	4
Republic of Ireland	3	1	1	1	2	2	4
Italy	3	1	1	1	2	2	4
Norway	3	1	1	1	1	1	4

18 June 1994

16:05 EDT

Italy	0–1	Republic of Ireland
	(Report)	Houghton 11'

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford

Attendance: 75,338

Referee: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands)

24 June 1994

12:35 EDT

Mexico	2–1	Republic of Ireland
García 42' 65'	(Report)	Aldridge 84'

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 60,790

Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)

28 June 1994

12:35 EDT

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Norway
	(Report)

Giants Stadium, East Rutherford

Attendance: 72,404

Referee: José Torres Cadena (Colombia)

Knockout phase

4 July 1994

12:05 EDT

Netherlands	2–0	Republic of Ireland
Bergkamp 11' Jonk 41'	(Report)

Citrus Bowl, Orlando

Attendance: 61,355

Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)

2002 World Cup

v t e Republic of Ireland squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Given 2 Finnan 3 Harte 4 Cunningham 5 Staunton (c) 6 ~~Roy Keane~~ 7 McAteer 8 Holland 9 Duff 10 Robbie Keane 11 Kilbane 12 Kinsella 13 Connolly 14 Breen 15 Dunne 16 Kiely 17 Quinn 18 G. Kelly 19 Morrison 20 O'Brien 21 Reid 22 Carsley 23 A. Kelly Coach: McCarthy

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	11	1	+10	7
Republic of Ireland	3	1	2	0	5	2	+3	5
Cameroon	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
Saudi Arabia	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12	0

1 June 2002

15:30

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Cameroon
Holland 52'	(Report)	Mboma 39'

Niigata Stadium, Niigata

Attendance: 33,679

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

5 June 2002

20:30

Germany	1–1	Republic of Ireland
Klose 19'	(Report)	Robbie Keane 90+2'

Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima

Attendance: 35,854

Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)

11 June 2002

20:30

Saudi Arabia	0–3	Republic of Ireland
	(Report)	Robbie Keane 7' Breen 61' Duff 87'

International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama

Attendance: 65,320

Referee: Falla N'Doye (Senegal)

Knockout phase

16 June 2002

20:30

Spain	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Republic of Ireland
Morientes 8'	(Report)	Robbie Keane 90' (pen.)
Penalties
Hierro Baraja Juanfran Valerón Mendieta	3–2	Robbie Keane Holland Connolly Kilbane Finnan

Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon

Attendance: 38,926

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

Record players

Defender Steve Staunton has represented the Irish team in all of their thirteen World Cup matches, captaining the side in 2002.

Rank	Player	Matches	Tournaments
1	Steve Staunton	13	1990, 1994, 2002
2	Pat Bonner	9	1990, 1994
	Ray Houghton	9	1990, 1994
	Paul McGrath	9	1990, 1994
	Andy Townsend	9	1990, 1994
6	John Aldridge	8	1990, 1994
7	Niall Quinn	7	1990, 2002
8	Tony Cascarino	6	1990, 1994
	Gary Kelly	6	1994, 2002
	Jason McAteer	6	1994, 2002

Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Tournaments
1	Robbie Keane	3	2002
2	Niall Quinn	1	1990
	Kevin Sheedy	1	1990
	John Aldridge	1	1994
	Ray Houghton	1	1994
	Gary Breen	1	2002
	Damien Duff	1	2002
	Matt Holland	1	2002

References

^ "1990 FIFA World Cup". Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
^ "Ireland's Italia '90 squad – where are they now?". RTE Sport. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
^ "Niall Quinn: 'People can talk about the ramshackle Irish team, but we knew what the real story was'". Irish Examiner. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
^ "24 World Cup memories we won't forget from Italia '90". The 42. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
^ "On Second Thoughts: Italia 90". Guardian. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
^ "11 iconic images that bring back memories of the Italia 90 good times". The 42. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
^ "Where are Ireland's Italia 90 dream team now?". The 42. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
^ "Italia '90". Irish Times. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

External links

Ireland Profile at FIFA.com
Ireland World Cup Record at FIFA.com
Article on Ireland's Qualification for the 1990 World Cup
Article on Ireland at 1994 FIFA World Cup
World Cup Record at Planet World Cup

v t e Republic of Ireland national football team
General	Football Association of Ireland Players Managers
Venues	Aviva Stadium Lansdowne Road Croke Park Dalymount Park
Results	Complete list of matches (1924–present) Irish Free State results (1924–35) Ireland (FAI) results (1936–54) Republic of Ireland results (1954–present) — 1954–1959 1960–1979 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–present Major tournament record
Players	Players Dual Ireland players Born outside RoI
Goals	Robbie Keane Hat-tricks
World Cup finals	1990 1994 2002 (including Saipan incident) World Cup record
European finals	1988 2012 2016 Euro record
Other tournaments	1924 Olympic Football Tournament 1948 Olympic Football Tournament Brazil Independence Cup (1972) Kirin Cup (1984) Iceland Triangular Tournament (1986) U.S. Cup (1992 1996 2000) Unity Cup (2004) 2011 Nations Cup UEFA Nations League
Rivalries	England Northern Ireland
Songs	"Olé, Olé, Olé" "Joxer Goes to Stuttgart" "The Boys in Green" "Give It a Lash Jack" "Put 'Em Under Pressure" "Watch Your House for Ireland" "Here Come the Good Times" "The Rocky Road to Poland" "The Irish Roar"
Other National teams	Women's B U-23 U-21 U-19 U-17 League of Ireland XI
Awards	FAI International Football Awards

v t e Countries at the FIFA World Cup
Team appearances All-time table
AFC	Australia² China Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Japan Kuwait North Korea Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea United Arab Emirates
CAF	Algeria Angola Cameroon DR Congo¹ Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Togo Tunisia
CONCACAF	Canada Costa Rica Cuba El Salvador Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States
CONMEBOL	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay
OFC	New Zealand
UEFA	Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic¹ Denmark East Germany³ England France Germany¹ Greece Hungary Iceland Israel² Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia¹ Scotland Serbia¹ Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). ² Have been member of multiple confederations. ³ Team and national federation no longer exist.