Northern Ireland - Group C
This summer Northern Ireland will take part in the finals of a European Championships for the first time in their history after Michael O'Neill's men exceeded all expectations by finishing top of Group F in qualification.
Get to know: Northern Ireland
Whilst qualification from Northern Ireland’s group always looked a possibility few fans would have expected Michael O’Neill’s side to have made quite such light work of finishing top of a group containing Romania, Hungary and former winners Greece. In fact Northern Ireland lost just one game and qualified with a game to spare.
In the group stages, they won 6 games, drew 3 and lost 1, scoring 16 goals, conceding 8 and ending up with a +8 goal difference.
In the draw for the main event, Northern Ireland were placed in Group C, alongside Germany, Ukraine and Poland.
Fixtures:
June 12 vs. Poland 4pm – Allianz Riviera, Nice
June 15 vs. Ukraine 4pm – Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon
June 21 vs. Germany 4pm – Parc des Princes, Paris
Goal scorers:
During qualification, Northern Ireland scored 16 goals
Their goal scorers were:
- Kyle Lafferty (7)
- Gareth McAuley (3)
- Steven Davis (2)
- Craig Cathcart (1)
- Josh Magennis (1)
- Niall McGinn (1)
- Jamie Ward (1)
Qualification Stat Truths:
- Conceded joint-second highest percentage of goals in the second half of matches: 88% (only conceded 1 first half goal).
- Were out-shot six times in qualifying: more than any other qualifier.
- Only qualifier not to score from outside the box during qualifying.
- Allowed 11.4% of opponents’ shots from inside their 6 yard box, the highest of any team in qualifying and almost three times the average of 4.2%.
All data based on Norn Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualification campaign. Courtesy of the Press Association.