Nigeria at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the 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 have appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on five occasions, the first being in 1994 where they reached the second round.
They made their fifth appearance at the finals in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.[1]
FIFA World Cup record
| FIFA World Cup record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host(s) | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1930 |  URU |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1934 |  ITA |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1938 |  FRA |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1950 |  BRA |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1954 |  SWI |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1958 |  SWE |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1962 |  CHI |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1966 |  ENG |
Withdrew[n 1][2] | |||||||
| 1970 |  MEX |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1974 |  FRG |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1978 |  ARG |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1982 |  ESP |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1986 | MEX |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1990 |  ITA |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1994 |  USA |
Round of 16 | 9th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| 1998 | FRA |
Round of 16 | 12th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| 2002 |  KOR and  JPN |
Group Stage | 27th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2006 | GER |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 2010 |  RSA |
Group Stage | 27th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 2014 | BRA |
Round of 16 | 16th | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 2018 |  RUS |
To be decided | |||||||
| 2022 |  QAT |
To be decided | |||||||
| World Cup total | 18 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 26 | |||
- Notes
- ↑ All African nations withdrew due to a lack of qualifying berths.
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 (aet) | L | Foxborough | Amuneke | |
| 1998 | Group stage | Spain |
3–2 | W | Nantes | Adepoju, Zubizarreta (og), 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 |
0–1 | L | Ibaraki | &
—
|
| Sweden |
1–2 | L | Kobe | Aghahowa | ||
| England |
0–0 | D | Osaka | &
—
|
||
| 2010 | Group stage | Argentina |
0–1 | L | Johannesburg | &
—
|
| Greece |
1–2 | L | Bloemfontein | Uche | ||
| South Korea |
2–2 | D | Durban | Uche, Yakubu | ||
| 2014 | Group stage |  Iran |
0–0 | D | Curitiba | &
—
|
 Bosnia-Herzegovina |
1–0 | W | Cuiabá | Odemwingie | ||
| Argentina |
2–3 | L | Porto Alegre | Musa (2) | ||
| Round of 16 | France |
0–2 | L | Brasília | &
—
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References
Squads
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