Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Northern Ireland national football team made their international debut on the 18th of February 1882 against England in a friendly match played at Bloomfield in Belfast. The result was a crushing 13, 0 defeat that remains the team's record loss to this day.
FIFA ruled in 1953 that neither team could be called Ireland after the IFA fielded four players born in the Irish Free State who had previously played for the rival FAI during a World Cup qualifier against Wales on the 8th of March 1950. The IFA team officially became Northern Ireland while the other side took the name Republic of Ireland following complaints from Dublin.
Northern Ireland achieved their best performance in the 1958 World Cup held in Sweden by reaching the quarter-finals. They defeated Czechoslovakia 2, 1 in a play-off to secure their place in the tournament finals before being eliminated by France with a 4, 0 loss.
Steven Davis holds the record for most appearances with 140 caps between 2005 and 2022 while David Healy is the all-time top goalscorer with 36 goals scored across 95 matches from 2000 to 2013. Kyle Lafferty follows with 20 goals in 89 appearances and Aaron Hughes made 112 caps and scored 11 goals.
The Northern Ireland national football team has not qualified for any other World Cups since their last appearance in 1986 after exiting in the group stages under manager Billy Bingham. The team reached its first UEFA European Championship in 2016 held in France following a 3, 1 victory over Greece on the 8th of October 2015 at Windsor Park.