Northern Ireland return to Nations League B with 28-man squad; Bradley absent
Northern Ireland have returned to League B of the 2026 Nations League and announced a 28-man squad as they open the campaign away to Georgia on 25 September and close the window at home to the same opponents on 5 October.
The build-up to the campaign has centred on the inclusion of Arsenal forward Ceadach O'Neill, whose selection makes a future switch of international allegiance less likely after an approach from the Republic of Ireland, and on the challenges posed by a four-game international window. Manager Michael O'Neill named 28 players for the quartet of fixtures, up from 23 for June's friendlies against Guinea and France, and said his team "must deal" with the change given its reappearance in future qualifying cycles.
O'Neill outlined the practical difficulties the longer window creates for a smaller association, saying: "I think for a smaller association, it poses more challenges if I'm honest. 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. "I'm sure within the period, players will get injured, two bookings and I think you're suspended as well. It will be challenging, but it's the way the window will be going forward." The four-match schedule includes fixtures against Hungary at Windsor Park and Ukraine in Slovakia between the two Georgia games.
This campaign represents Northern Ireland's first participation in the Nations League's second tier since 2020, having topped a League C group containing Luxembourg, Belarus and Bulgaria to secure a route into the World Cup play-offs that ended with a 2-0 defeat by Italy in Bergamo. O'Neill said of the current group: "I do think it's a group that is quite well matched in terms of where the teams are," adding, "Obviously some of the teams are ranked a lot higher than us, I don't think we should be frightened by that. "I think the games will be extremely tough, but I think it's a great challenge." He also noted that a top-two finish would place Northern Ireland in the second band of seeds for December's qualifying draw.
O'Neill has also reflected on observations made during his work with Fifa's Technical Study Group at the World Cup, noting how many matches "were decided by individual brilliance" rather than overall team superiority. That context sits alongside the manager's frustration at being without his most creative club player: Liverpool's Conor Bradley. Since the beginning of 2025 the 23-year-old has missed seven Northern Ireland games through injury or suspension, and, "Still on the sidelines after January knee surgery, Bradley is expected to be absent for the entirety of this campaign," with O'Neill telling BBC Sport NI last month it would be a "bonus" to see his captain before the start of Euro 2028 qualifying in March.
Statistical comparisons underline Bradley's absence: since his first international goal in a 1-0 win over Scotland in March 2024, Northern Ireland have averaged 1.5 goals a game in 16 internationals with him in the side compared to 0.7 goals per game in the seven he has missed. The squad that O'Neill has named looks young overall — the average age is 24 — and continues the manager's apparent focus on building for future campaigns.
Of the starting XI that featured in Bergamo, only Hull City's 31-year-old defender Paddy McNair is older than 26; the 28-man panel includes a quartet of teenagers — Ceadach O'Neill, Kieran Morrison, Braiden Graham and Tom Atcheson — while the only other players aged over 30 are Dion Charles, 30, and Josh Magennis, 36. O'Neill is expected to persist with 21-year-old Jamie Donley in attack; Donley has scored twice in 10 caps, started the past five games for Northern Ireland and, after a difficult 2025-26 season on loan at Stoke City and Oxford United, "will spend this year with Luton Town, back on loan in League One where he impressed for Leyton Orient in 2024-25." On Donley, O'Neill said: "What happened with Jamie last year was not really of Jamie's doing," said O'Neill. "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)."
Northern Ireland begin their League B campaign away to Georgia on 25 September, with subsequent fixtures against Hungary at Windsor Park and Ukraine in Slovakia before returning home to face Georgia on 5 October.
