Northern Ireland are back in the second tier of the Nations League for the first time since 2020, and their return to League B will be squeezed into a punishing four-game window. Michael O’Neill’s side begin away to Georgia on 25 September before facing Hungary at Windsor Park and Ukraine in Slovakia, then finish at home to Georgia on 5 October. It is the first time since June 2022 that Northern Ireland have faced four games in the same international window, and O’Neill has named a 28-man panel for the fixtures, compared with the 23 players taken for June’s friendlies against Guinea and France.
Much of the build-up has centred on Ceadach O’Neill, the Arsenal forward included in the squad. The 18-year-old appears set to add to his two senior caps over the next two weeks, which would likely rule out any future switch of international allegiance despite an approach from the Republic of Ireland.
O’Neill has described the schedule as challenging but said his team must deal with it, especially as the four-game window will be used again this time next year in Euro 2028 qualifying. “I think for a smaller association, it poses more challenges if I’m honest,” he said. “If a player picks up a calf strain the Saturday before we meet up, he’s going to miss four games. It’s a window that, I believe, is more beneficial for the bigger nations.” He added that injuries and suspensions would make it difficult but that it is the way the window will be going forward.
The campaign is also a step up in quality. Georgia’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a player O’Neill calls one of the best in the world, and these will be Northern Ireland’s first games in the Nations League’s second tier since 2020. That step up comes after Northern Ireland sought friendlies against Spain, France, Sweden and Denmark over the past two and a half years, as well as facing Germany in World Cup qualifying. Their last League C campaign, topping a group containing Luxembourg, Belarus and Bulgaria, secured a backdoor route into this year’s World Cup play-offs, where they were beaten 2-0 by Italy in Bergamo. Promotion makes such a safety net harder for Euro 2028, but a top-two finish in the League B group would place Northern Ireland in the second band of seeds for December’s qualifying draw. O’Neill said the group is well matched, with some teams ranked much higher, but that his side should not be frightened. “I think the games will be extremely tough, but I think it’s a great challenge,” he said.
O’Neill, who reflected on his role with Fifa’s Technical Study Group at the World Cup, noted how many games were decided by individual brilliance rather than the general superiority of winning teams. Once again, however, he will have to do without the player in his own squad most likely to produce such moments. Liverpool’s Conor Bradley, the captain, has missed seven Northern Ireland games through injury or suspension since the beginning of 2025. Still sidelined after January knee surgery, he is expected to be absent for the entirety of this campaign, with O’Neill saying last month it would be a “bonus” to see him before Euro 2028 qualifying starts in March. Since a 1-0 win over Scotland in March 2024, the occasion of Bradley’s first international goal, Northern Ireland have averaged 1.5 goals a game in 16 internationals with him in the side compared with just 0.7 goals per game in the seven he has missed. Finding a different creative spark will be key.
Progression is expected from O’Neill’s young side. Of the starting XI that featured in Bergamo, only Hull City’s 31-year-old defender Paddy McNair is older than 26. The average age of the 28-man squad named last week was just 24, with teenagers Ceadach O’Neill, Kieran Morrison, Braiden Graham and Tom Atcheson giving the panel an even more youthful look. The squad’s other central striking options include Dion Charles, 30, and Josh Magennis, 36.
O’Neill is expected to stick with 21-year-old Jamie Donley up top as he builds for the qualification campaigns ahead. The Tottenham Hotspur player has scored twice in 10 caps and started the past five games for Northern Ireland, but he endured a difficult 2025-26 season at club level on loan at Stoke City and Oxford United. Despite featuring for Spurs during pre-season, he will spend this year with Luton Town, back on loan in League One where he impressed for Leyton Orient in 2024-25. “What happened with Jamie last year was not really of Jamie’s doing,” O’Neill said. “The game time at Stoke was, I think, unfair on the player, to be honest. The second loan he gets injured in his first game but the games he did play, he did well. I think the thing for Jamie is just to play regularly. I think he’s got all the attributes of a top, young player. He’s still a Tottenham player on a long-term contract and I think he’s gone to a good club (in Luton).”