Northern Ireland's best World Cup performance was in their first appearance in 1958 when they managed to reach the quarter finals. In 1958 they broke the record for the smallest country to reach the World Cup a record which they held until Trinidad & Tobago qualified in 2006.

They have had some fantastic results in the past few years, the biggest coming in September 2005 when they managed to beat England 1 - 0 at home in a 2006 World Cup Qualifier. Almost a year later Northern Ireland pulled of another amazing result beating Spain 3 - 2 with a David Healy hat-trick.