Nigeria at the FIFA World Cup

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Nigeria national team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia

The FIFA World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.

Nigeria has reached the FIFA World Cup on six occasions, the first being in 1994 where they reached the second round. Their sixth and most recent appearance was the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[1]

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Part of  United Kingdom
Italy 1934
France 1938
Brazil 1950
Switzerland 1954
Sweden 1958
Chile 1962 Did not qualify
England 1966 Withdrew[n 1][2]
Mexico 1970 Did not qualify
West Germany 1974
Argentina 1978
Spain 1982
Mexico 1986
Italy 1990
United States 1994 Round of 16 9th 4 2 0 2 7 4
France 1998 12th 4 2 0 2 6 9
South Korea Japan 2002 Group stage 27th 3 0 1 2 1 3
Germany 2006 Did not qualify
South Africa 2010 Group stage 27th 3 0 1 2 3 5
Brazil 2014 Round of 16 16th 4 1 1 2 3 5
Russia 2018 Group stage 21st 3 1 0 2 3 4
Qatar 2022 Did not qualify
Canada
Mexico
United States
2026
To be determined
Morocco
Portugal
Spain
2030
Saudi Arabia
2034
Total Round of 16 6/25 21 6 3 12 23 30
Notes
  1. ^ All African nations withdrew due to a lack of qualifying berths.

By opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent Total Wins Draws Losses GFA GA GD
 Argentina 5 0 0 5 4 9 −5
 Bulgaria 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4
 Greece 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1
 Iceland 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2
 Spain 1 1 0 0 3 2 +1
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1
 South Korea 1 0 1 0 2 2 0
 England 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
 Iran 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
 Italy 1 0 0 1 1 2 −1
 Sweden 1 0 0 1 1 2 −1
 Paraguay 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2
 France 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
 Croatia 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
 Denmark 1 0 0 1 1 4 −3

By match

World Cup Round Opponent Score Result Venue Nigeria scorers
1994 Group stage  Bulgaria 3–0 W Dallas Yekini, Amokachi, Amuneke
 Argentina 1–2 L Foxborough Siasia
 Greece 2–0 W Foxborough George, Amokachi
Round of 16  Italy 1–2 (a.e.t.) L Foxborough Amuneke
1998 Group stage  Spain 3–2 W Nantes Adepoju, Zubizarreta (o.g.), Oliseh
 Bulgaria 1–0 W Paris Ikpeba
 Paraguay 1–3 L Toulouse Oruma
Round of 16  Denmark 1–4 L Saint-Denis Babangida
2002 Group stage  Argentina 1–0 L Ibaraki
 Sweden 2–1 L Kobe Aghahowa
 England 0–0 D Osaka
2010 Group stage  Argentina 1–0 L Johannesburg
 Greece 2–1 L Bloemfontein Uche
 South Korea 2–2 D Durban Uche, Yakubu (pen.)
2014 Group stage  Iran 0–0 D Curitiba
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 W Cuiabá Odemwingie
 Argentina 2–3 L Porto Alegre Musa (2)
Round of 16  France 2–0 L Brasília
2018 Group stage  Croatia 2–0 L Kaliningrad
 Iceland 2–0 W Volgograd Musa (2)
 Argentina 1–2 L Saint Petersburg Moses (pen.)

Squads

Most appearances

Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Joseph Yobo 10 2002, 2010 and 2014
2 Jay-Jay Okocha 9 1994, 1998 and 2002
3 Finidi George 8 1994 and 1998
Sunday Oliseh 8 1994 and 1998
Peter Rufai 8 1994 and 1998
Rashidi Yekini 8 1994 and 1998
Vincent Enyeama 8 2002, 2010 and 2014
8 Mutiu Adepoju 7 1994 and 1998
Uche Okechukwu 7 1994 and 1998
John Obi Mikel
7 2014 and 2018
Ahmed Musa 7 2014 and 2018

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Goals World Cups
1 Ahmed Musa 4 2014 (2) and 2018 (2)
2 Daniel Amokachi 2 1994
Emmanuel Amunike 2 1994
Kalu Uche 2 2010
5 Finidi George 1 1994
Samson Siasia 1 1994
Rashidi Yekini 1 1994
Mutiu Adepoju 1 1998
Tijani Babangida 1 1998
Victor Ikpeba 1 1998
Sunday Oliseh 1 1998
Wilson Oruma 1 1998
Julius Aghahowa 1 2002
Yakubu 1 2010
Peter Odemwingie 1 2014
Victor Moses 1 2018


See also

References

  1. ^ "Nigeria beat Ethiopia to book berth in Brazil". BBC Sport. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  2. ^ "VIII WORLD CUP (ENGLAND 1966) QUALIFYING STAGE". Lingua Sport. Retrieved 2 January 2012.[permanent dead link]

External links