Northern Ireland national football team

The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international football. In such events, the constituent nations of the UK compete separately. Before 1921, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the team represented the entire island. The independent Republic of Ireland has its own team.

History

The Northern Ireland team is the successor to the all-Ireland national football team that existed before the formation of the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) in 1921. The team selected by the Irish Football Association (based in Belfast, Northern Ireland) continued to claim to represent (and pick players from) all of Ireland even after the partition. A rival Ireland team was set up by the Football Association of Ireland (based in Dublin, Irish Free State) in 1926 which also claimed to represent all of Ireland. It took until 1946 for the boundaries to be sorted out and the IFA's team became known as 'Northern Ireland' (though it took many more years for the name to fall into popular usage), while the FAI's team became known as the 'Republic of Ireland' (often called simply 'Ireland' in popular usage). Even then, it took until 1950 for the rules to be changed, ensuring that only Northern Irish players could play for Northern Ireland and that only Irish Republic players could play for the Republic of Ireland.

Related Topics:
1921 - Irish Football Association - Belfast - Northern Ireland - Football Association of Ireland - Dublin - Irish Free State - 1926 - 1946 - 1950

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