Northern Ireland have not qualified for the World Cup in 40 years, since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The country has only four fully professional teams.
However, unbeknownst to most fans around the world, the small region of 1.9 million people continues to have a disproportionate impact on the tournament.
A penalty shootout decided the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France and could decide many knockout matches in the expanded tournament that starts this Thursday (11). The penalty was the creation of William McCrum, a goalkeeper from County Armagh in what is now Northern Ireland. Originally called the “death kick”, penalties were first adopted in 1891.
Even today, Northern Ireland, a team that is not very significant in football, belongs to an elite club that defines the rules of world football, the International Football Association Board (Ifab).
The Irish Football Association (IFA), which administers the sport in Northern Ireland (but not the Republic of Ireland), has a seat on Ifab, alongside football’s governing body, FIFA, and the football associations of England, Scotland and Wales.
The IFA prides itself on being “one of the true giants of world football”.
Helping to define the rules of the game is “absolutely huge”, says Patrick Nelson, executive director of the Irish entity. “Is it a privilege, is it a responsibility, is it a duty? It’s absolutely all of those things.”
Ifab decides rules, known as Laws, such as when players are offside and how to manage corners and free kicks, which apply to the biggest clubs in the world and also to modest teams like Scaynes Hill FC in England, where Nelson once played.
The latest changes, applicable to this World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, include adjustments to the use of video technology, known as VAR, and measures to prevent waxing, including giving substituted players just ten seconds to leave the field.
Following an uproar earlier this year when Senegal was stripped of its Africa Cup of Nations title because its players walked off the field in the final against Morocco, Ifab also issued mandatory red cards for players who leave the field in protest. Players who cover their mouths during confrontations will also be ejected.
Northern Ireland’s place in Ifab dates back to the time when all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom.
The modern game of football had been born in England, but small differences in rules across the United Kingdom persisted until the end of the 19th century.
To codify the rules, Ifab was created in 1886 and FIFA —founded in 1904 by Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland— joined in 1913.
When Ireland was divided in 1921, Northern Ireland retained the IFA and its place in the Ifab, whilst the Irish Football Association was founded in the south. FIFA represents the other 207 national football associations in the world.
FIFA today has half the voting rights in Ifab and the UK associations have one vote each. Decisions require a three-quarters majority, or six votes.
Nelson — who previously managed England’s Macclesfield Town and is now an independent member of Northern Ireland’s policing board, as well as being the region’s chief sports diplomat — says he doesn’t remember the region disagreeing. “We take our role very seriously… we have found our way to consensus.”
Similarly, he dismisses suggestions that more successful sporting nations resent the Ifab structure, saying “everyone has the opportunity to participate”.
But Northern Ireland’s status as football rule-setting royalty stands in stark contrast to the precarious state of many of its stadiums. Some stands have areas that are enclosed or “propped up with makeshift patches”, says Gerard Lawlor, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Football League.
Lawlor argues that football in Northern Ireland is “trapped in a political war” that has seen money for the sport tied up due to delays in funding Gaelic sports — notably the long-stalled redevelopment of the abandoned Casement Park Gaelic stadium.
This has cost Northern Ireland the ability to host UEFA Euro 2028 matches, which will be played in the UK and Ireland.
“There is now a generation that has missed the chance to see some of Europe’s best footballers in their own backyard. It is unforgivable,” Lawlor said.
Northern Ireland has a football tradition: it is the birthplace of George Best, acclaimed by both Pelé and Maradona, and legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings. One of their rising stars, Conor Bradley, plays for Liverpool, but athletes at semi-professional clubs have to balance football with other jobs.
The region has qualified only five times for major international competitions, both men’s and women’s. Even expanding the men’s World Cup to 48 countries was not enough to qualify this time: they lost in the playoffs to Italy.
As it will not host Euro 2028 matches, it will not have a privileged path to qualification.
But Nelson did not lose hope. “We are responsible for making people want to play football,” he says.
“We are a small country, but we want to be world class.”
