Original Umbro football shirt Ireland 2010/12

The Republic of Ireland national football team is a team of football players representing the Republic of Ireland in men's international competitions and is known for its large base of regular supporters, nicknamed The Green Army. It played its first official international match in March 1926 and since then more than five hundred matches, first as an Irish Free State and from 1938 as an independent republic.

In the 1980s, the Irish national team had a golden generation, led by Englishman Jack Charlton in 1988, who managed to enforce placement for an international tournament for the first time, namely the European Championship. Charlton's success continued until 1994, with the country qualifying twice for the World Cup. Ireland last participated in a World Cup in 2002. Under Giovanni Trapattoni it qualified for the second time for a European Championship in 2012; Ireland also qualified for the subsequent tournament, which took place in France in June 2016.

Ireland has a special rivalry with Northern Ireland, with which it formed a single national team in the early twentieth century. Robbie Keane, played the most matches of all internationals: 146 international matches in eighteen years. He is also the all-time top scorer with 68 goals, more than forty more than the number two on the top scorers list, Niall Quinn.