Notes

There were two teams representing the whole of Ireland in the 1950 World Cup qualifying competition; one was the Belfast-based Irish Football Association, and the other was the Dublin-based Football Association of Ireland. For the 1954 World Cup qualifying competition, the former became Northern Ireland and the latter became the Republic of Ireland.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed as a combined team at the Olympic Games, whilst the four home nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) competed as individual countries in the World Cup and European Nations Cup (Euro).

West Germany sent a team to represent the whole of Germany at the Olympic Games of 1952 and 1956. For the 1960 qualifying competition a play-off was held to decide which team would represent Germany. West Germany defeated the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), but ultimately did not qualify for the Games.

Key: DNQ = Did Not Qualify, dsq = Disqualified, Prelim = Preliminary, QF = Quarter-finals, rej = Application Rejected, rnd = Round, RU = Runners-up, wdn = Withdrawn.