Nigeria at the FIFA World Cup

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.

Nigeria national team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia

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

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FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
  1930 Part of   United Kingdom
  1934
  1938
  1950
  1954
  1958
  1962 Did not qualify
  1966 Withdrew[n 1][2]
  1970 Did not qualify
  1974
  1978
  1982
  1986
  1990
  1994 Round of 16 9th 4 2 0 2 7 4
  1998 12th 4 2 0 2 6 9
    2002 Group stage 27th 3 0 1 2 1 3
  2006 Did not qualify
  2010 Group stage 27th 3 0 1 2 3 5
  2014 Round of 16 16th 4 1 1 2 3 5
  2018 Group stage 21st 3 1 0 2 3 4
  2022 Did not qualify
 
 
 
2026
To be determined
 
 
 
2030
 
2034
Total Round of 16 6/22 21 6 3 12 23 30
Notes
  1. ^ All African nations withdrew due to a lack of qualifying berths.

Head-to-head record

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By match

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World Cup Round Opponent Score Result Venue Nigeria scorers
1994 Group D   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 D   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 F   Argentina 1–0 L Ibaraki
  Sweden 2–1 L Kobe Aghahowa
  England 0–0 D Osaka
2010 Group B   Argentina 1–0 L Johannesburg
  Greece 2–1 L Bloemfontein Uche
  South Korea 2–2 D Durban Uche, Yakubu (pen.)
2014 Group F   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 D   Croatia 2–0 L Kaliningrad
  Iceland 2–0 W Volgograd Musa (2)
  Argentina 1–2 L Saint Petersburg Moses (pen.)

Squads

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Most appearances

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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

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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

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References

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  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]
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