In this series, we look at Northern Irish footballers playing outside the UK and Ireland, in countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, Greece etc. This post looks at 4 times World Cup winners Italy. It would appear that only three Northern Ireland footballers have played for Italian clubs down the years. It is also an impressive stat, as of 2025 that Italy have never beaten Northern Ireland in Belfast, neither at full men’s or full women’s level! On two of the occasions (1958 and 2021), the result in Belfast (2-1 and 0-0) ultimately knocked Italy out of two World Cups!
Here is a look at all those Northern Ireland v Italy matches down the years.
Northern Ireland
v. Italy
head to head
- 25 Apr 1957 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 1-0 – FIFA World Cup Qualifier
- 04 Dec 1957 – Northern Ireland vs Italy – 2-2 – Friendly – Billy Bingham, Jimmy McIlroy
- 15 Jan 1958 – Northern Ireland vs Italy – 2-1 – FIFA World Cup Qualifier – Jimmy McIlroy, Wilbur Cush
- 25 Apr 1961 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 3-2 – Friendly – Billy Bingham, Terry Neill
- 22 Jan 1997 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 2-0 – Friendly
- 03 Jun 2003 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 2-0 – Friendly
- 06 Jun 2009 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 3-0 – Friendly
- 08 Oct 2010 – Northern Ireland vs Italy – 0-0 – UEFA Euro Qualifier
- 11 Oct 2011 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 3-0 – UEFA Euro Qualifier
- 25 Mar 2021 – Italy vs Northern Ireland – 2-0 – FIFA World Cup Qualifier
- 15 Nov 2021 – Northern Ireland vs Italy – 0-0 – FIFA World Cup Qualifier
Northern Ireland ladies team also beat Italy recently, in 2022 at Seaview. Here are the Northern Ireland footballers who were at Italian clubs.
1.Amrit Bansal-McNulty.
Other clubs he was at – Queens Park Rangers, Torquay United, Dartford, Crawley Town, Waltham Abbey.
Northern Ireland caps – Under 21 – 2 caps.
Bansal-McNulty is a Hackney-born attacking midfielder who qualifies for Northern Ireland through his Belfast-born mum. He joined QPR in 2014 and has spent loan spells with Torquay United and Dartford. He joined Como 1907 in 2020. They are located in the Lombardy region of Italy, he made his debut in a 1-0 win over Pistoiese and played just thrice for them. He has no full level caps as of yet. Watch this space, or not?
2.Kyle Lafferty.
Other clubs he was at – Burnley, Darlington, Rangers, Sion, Norwich City, Çaykur Rizespor, Birmingham City, Heart of Midlothian, Sarpsborg 08, Sunderland, Kilmarnock, Anorthosis Famagusta, Linfield, Johnstone Burgh.
Northern Ireland caps – Under 17 – 5 caps, 5 goals, under 19 – 6 caps, 4 goals, under 21 – 2 caps, 4 goals, full level 89 caps, 21 goals.
3.Paddy Sloan.
Other clubs he was at – Glenavon, Manchester United, Tranmere Rovers, New Brighton, Millwall, Fulham, Bath City, Brentford, Arsenal, Sheffield United, Norwich City, Peterborough United, Rabat Ajax, Hastings United, Lockheed Leamington.
Northern Ireland (IFA) caps – (1945 – 1947) – 3 caps, 1 goal.
Republic of Ireland (FA) caps – (1946) – 2 caps, 1 goal.
One of the most legendary footballers in Northern Irish history, Paddy Sloan certainly lived the dream. His CV is hard to beat – he played for City, United, Ajax, Milan and Torino. Sure the City was Norwich City, the United was only Manchester United and the Ajax was Rabat Ajax, but what a career.
He was at 4 Italian clubs and the first Northern Irishman to play in Serie A in Italy, we really haven’t had many. Who will be the next one?
Red Herrings
And there are also a few red herrings – Northern Irishmen who almost joined Italian clubs, or irishmen from the Republic (like Liam Brady or Robbie Keane) who were at Italian clubs.
1.Norman Whiteside
If you read Norman Whiteside’s autobiography, you will discover that he was so close to joining AC Milan in 1984. In fact, Norman turned them down! Worth a read – Determined by Norman Whiteside.
