Irish Football – Major International Qualifying Campaigns

The Republic of Ireland soccer team has been competing internationally since 1924. There are currently two main major international football championships in which the the Irish senior soccer team compete; the Soccer World Cup and the Euro Football Championships.

Irish World Cup Qualifying Campaigns

The World Cup is the premier soccer competition in the World. Staged under the auspices of FIFA the finals are held every four years since 1930. Due to the World War II the finals were not held in 1942 or 1946.

It wasn’t until 1950 World Cup that Ireland took part in a qualification campaign that involved a qualifying group and it wasn’t until 1970 that Ireland were involved in a group of more than two other teams.

The break up of the former Soviet Union bloc in the early 1990’s meant that a whole host of national teams emerged, or re-emerged, thus leading to the current situation where the Irish team finds itself in a qualification group of six, and sometimes as many as seven, teams.

Number of Appearances and Goals Scored in Irish World Cup Qualifying Campaigns

The following links include details of the players that made appearances for the Republic of Ireland during all of the Irish World Cup finals qualifying campaigns since 1938. They also include details of goals scored during the campaigns.

Irish European / Euro Championship Qualifying Campaigns

Staged under the auspices of UEFA the European Championship is the premier soccer competition for European nations. It is held every four years in between the World Cup Finals following a qualifying campaign through which 16 teams advance to the finals. The Republic of Ireland entered a team for the qualification stage of the inaugural 1960 European Nations Cup (as it was known then).

Number of Appearances and Goals Scored in Irish Euro Championship Finals Qualifying Campaigns

The following links include details of the players that made appearances for the Republic of Ireland during all Irish Euro Championship finals qualifying campaigns since 1960. They also include details of goals scored during the campaigns.