Northern Ireland’s Nations League games against Belarus and Bulgaria will not be broadcast on television unless a last minute television deal can be struck.
Instead, the Green and White Army will be reduced to watching a stream of their beloved team on video-sharing platform YouTube.
Scandinavian broadcasters Viaplay agreed a contract with UEFA in 2022 to televise Northern Ireland’s Nations League, Euro Qualifiers and World Cup Qualifiers live until 2028. However, the subscription service has since dropped out of the UK market.
In September, Viaplay struck a late deal with ITV that allowed Northern Ireland’s home game with Luxembourg and trip to Bulgaria to be broadcast on television.
Both ITV and BBC have tried to strike a similar deal for October’s two games, but were unable to reach a subletting deal with the Scandinavian company.
As things stand, Viaplay will broadcast both Saturday’s trip to Hungary to face Belarus behind closed doors and the home game with Bulgaria at Windsor Park on YouTube.
Gary McAllister of the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs said: “It appears the forthcoming Northern Ireland games will be shown by Viaplay on their YouTube channel.
“I’d heard a suggestion earlier that this might be the outcome. The ongoing last-minute wait for confirmation of match coverage is far from ideal and needs a proper solution.”
Premier Sports took control of Viaplay’s broadcast channels and the majority of the Scandinavian outfit’s live rights, however Viaplay retained the rights to UEFA internationals.