France 1998 FIFA World Cup - Qualifying

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In 1998 the World Cup was hosted by France for the second time, and for the second time Northern Ireland did not make the trip. While the Irish FA, along with the other Home Nations, had not entered the 1938 competition, Northern Ireland's failure to qualify meant that they missed out for a third consecutive tournament, despite an increase to 32 finalists. 

Following a strong finish to their Euro 96 qualifying campaign Northern Ireland felt they might have had a chance of making it - alas it was not to be. Strong performances against European Champions Germany and a decent home draw with a fancied Portuguese team were off-set by poor results against an (incorrectly) unregarded Ukraine and the group's genuine minnows, Armenia and Albania. Northern Ireland finished second bottom of their group, with a single win to their name. Ultimately, the poor campaign cost manager Bryan Hamilton his job.

European Qualifying Group 9

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Germany	10	6	4	0	23	9	14	22
2	Ukraine	10	6	2	2	10	6	4	20
3	Portugal	10	5	4	1	12	4	8	19
4	Armenia	10	1	5	4	8	17	-9	8
5	N. Ireland	10	1	4	5	6	10	-4	7
6	Albania	10	1	1	8	7	20	-13	4

Germany qualified for the finals. 
Ukraine qualified for the play-offs where they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Croatia.

Results

	ALB	ARM	GER	NIR	POR	UKR
ALB		1-1	2-3	1-0	0-3	0-1
ARM	3-0		1-5	0-0	0-0	0-2
GER	4-3	4-0		1-1	1-1	2-0
NIR	2-0	1-1	1-3		0-0	0-1
POR	2-0	3-1	0-0	1-0		1-0
UKR	1-0	1-1	0-0	2-1	2-1

Northern Ireland Line-Ups

Terry Hayes (physio), Steve Lomas, Danny Griffin, Gerard McMahon, Derek McKinley (team attendant), Jon McCarthy, Kevin Horlock, Cameron Ramsey (medic)
Darren Patterson, Jim Magilton, Barry Hunter, Roy Carroll, Alan Fettis, Aidan Davison, Iain Dowie, Gerry Taggart, James Quinn
Gerry Armstrong (assistant manager), Keith Rowland, Michael Hughes, Nigel Worthington, Bryan Hamilton (manager), Phil Mulryne, Keith Gillespie, George O'Boyle, Willie McFaul (gk coach)
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Match Programmes 

<< Euro 1996 Qualifying Campaign --- Euro 2000 Qualifying Campaign >>
<< World Cup 1994 Qualifying Campaign --- World Cup 2002 Qualifying Campaign >>
Friendlies 1994-1997

Northern Ireland Players in the Championship Play-Off Final

The Football League introduced the play-off system in 1986/87 season. The four teams who finish outside the automatic promotion places (usually those placed third to sixth) play-off over two-legged semi-finals and a final to decide who will play in the higher division the following season.

Originally the play-offs involved one team from the higher division (who finished just above the automatic relegation places, e.g. Chelsea in 1988) and three teams from the lower division. Prior to 1990 the play-off finals were played over two legs and the finalists home grounds before changing to a single match at Wembley Stadium. Between 2001 and 2006 the play-off finals were hosted by the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wembley was being re-built.

The Championship Play-Off final (previously the Second Division Play-Off final until 1992 and the First Division Play-Off final from 1993-2004) is regarded as the richest single match in world football, promotion to the Premier League being valued at over £100 million to the successful team.

The following Northern Ireland players and managers have been involved in this most valuable of matches...

Year	Winners			Runners-Up
1987
1988				Kevin Wilson	Chelsea
1989
1990
1991
1992				Colin Hill	Leicester C.
1993				Colin Hill	Leicester C.
1994
1995				Jimmy Quinn	Reading	(s/m/1)
1996	Neil Lennon	Leicester C.
	Colin Hill	Leicester C.	(s)
	Martin O'Neill	Leicester C.	(m)
1997
1998
1999	Peter Kennedy	Watford
2000	Jim Magilton	Ipswich Town
2001				Colin Murdock	Preston.N.E.
				David Healy	Preston.N.E.
2002	Damien Johnson	Birmingham C.	(u)	Phil Mulryne	Norwich C.
				Paul McVeigh	Norwich C.
				Nigel Worthington	Norwich C.	(m)
2003
2004	Michael Hughes	Crystal Palace		Steve Lomas	West Ham
	Iain Dowie	Crystal Palace	(m)
2005
2006				David Healy	Leeds U.	(s)
2007	Lee Camp	Derby Co.	(u)
2008				Ivan Sproule	Bristol City	(s)
2009	Michael Duff	Burnley		Jamie Ward	Sheffield U.	(s) _
	Martin Paterson	Burnley
2010				Tony Capaldi	Cardiff	(u)
2011
2012	George McCartney	West Ham	(s)	Craig Cathcart	Blackpool	(u)
2013

2014

Aaron Hughes

Q.P.R.

(u)

2015

Key:

(s) appeared as substitute

(u) unused substitute

(1) number of goals scored

(m) team manager

_ sent-off

See also:

Premier Players

English Title Winners