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2. Northern Ireland
Although the country has produced plenty of footballing legends, the most famous of which is George Best, Northern Ireland, at least in terms of size and population is one of the smallest nations to have qualified for the World Cup. With a population of just 1.8 million, they have actually qualified for the World Cup thrice. They managed that feat for the first time in 1958 in Sweden, when they achieved their best result till date, as they reached the quarter finals by making it out of a tough group which contained Czechoslovakia, Argentina and reigning World Champions West Germany.
Although they lost to Argentina, they drew with West Germany and victory over Czechoslovakia meant that they finished the group in second place. Their fairytale was ended in the quarterfinal as they were thumped 4-0 by France. In 1982, after surprising everyone by beating Spain, they topped the group and got through. However, their path was blocked again by France, who beat them again. Their third trip, four years later, wasn’t as lucky as they didn’t even win a single game as they lost to Spain and Brazil and could only manage a draw against Algeria to show for their efforts.
