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 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final 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.
FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup recordYearRoundPosition 1930Part of 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962Did not qualify 1966WithdrewAll African nations withdrew due to a lack of qualifying berths. 1970Did not qualify 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994Round of 169th420274 199812th420269 2002Group stage27th301213 2006Did not qualify 2010Group stage27th301235 2014Round of 1616th411235 2018Group stage21st310234 2022Did not qualify20262030To be determined2034TotalRound of 166/232163122330 Notes
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
List of matches World CupRoundOpponentScoreResultVenueNigeria scorers1994Group D3–0WDallas Yekini, Amokachi, Amuneke1–2L FoxboroughSiasia2–0W FoxboroughGeorge, AmokachiRound of 161–2 (a.e.t.)LFoxboroughAmuneke1998Group D3–2WNantesAdepoju, Zubizarreta (o.g.), Oliseh 1–0W ParisIkpeba1–3L ToulouseOrumaRound of 161–4LSaint-DenisBabangida2002Group F0–1LIbaraki1–2LKobeAghahowa 0–0D Osaka2010Group B0–1LJohannesburg1–2LBloemfonteinUche 2–2D DurbanUche, Yakubu (pen.)2014Group F0–0D Curitiba1–0WCuiabáOdemwingie2–3LPorto AlegreMusa (2)Round of 160–2LBrasília2018Group D0–2LKaliningrad2–0WVolgogradMusa (2) 1–2L Saint PetersburgMoses (pen.)
1994 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
1998 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
2002 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
2010 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
2014 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
2018 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Squads
Player records Most appearances RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Joseph Yobo102002, 2010 and 20142Jay-Jay Okocha91994, 1998 and 20023Finidi George81994 and 1998Sunday Oliseh81994 and 1998Peter Rufai81994 and 1998Rashidi Yekini81994 and 1998Vincent Enyeama82002, 2010 and 20148Mutiu Adepoju71994 and 1998Uche Okechukwu71994 and 1998John Obi Mikel72014 and 2018Ahmed Musa72014 and 2018
Goalscorers On 21 June 1994, Rashidi Yekini made history by scoring Nigeria's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal, coming in their opening match against Bulgaria in Dallas.
Player Goals 1994 1998 2002 2010 2014 2018 Ahmed Musa 4 22 Daniel Amokachi 22 Emmanuel Amunike 22 Kalu Uche 2 2 Rashidi Yekini 11 Samson Siasia 11 Finidi George 11 Mutiu Adepoju 1 1 Sunday Oliseh 1 1 Victor Ikpeba 1 1 Wilson Oruma 1 1 Tijani Babangida 1 1 Julius Aghahowa 1 1 Yakubu 1 1 Peter Odemwingie 1 1 Victor Moses 1 1 Total22751 3 3 3
See also African nations at the FIFA World Cup
References
Reports
External links Nigeria at FIFA World Cup Finals Statistics