Republic of Ireland at the FIFA World Cup

For the women's team, see Republic of Ireland at the FIFA Women's 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

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)

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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)

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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)

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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

Group E

Main article: 1994 FIFA World Cup Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Republic of Ireland	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Italy	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Norway	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	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)

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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)

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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

Group E

Main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup - 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)

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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)

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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

See also

• Republic of Ireland at the UEFA European Championship
• Republic of Ireland at the UEFA Nations League