As things stand, Thursday night’s game between Northern Ireland and Luxembourg at Windsor Park and Sunday’s clash away to Bulgaria will not be shown live.
BBC Northern Ireland had hoped to show both games live, but the network was unable to finalise a rights deal for the UEFA-organised competition.
However, according to the Irish FA, the European governing body are now confident that a last-minute rights deal can be struck before kick-off.
An Irish FA Spokesperson said: “Negotiations with UEFA and a broadcaster for the game are at the final stages with an announcement to follow in due course.”
Originally, Scandinavian broadcasters Viaplay agreed a contract with UEFA in 2022 to televise the Nations League, Euro Qualifiers and World Cup Qualifiers live until 2028.
However, the subscription service has since dropped out of the UK market.
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.
Earlier this year, the Scandinavian company entered into negotiations with the BBC in an attempt to strike a deal that would see Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales internationals sub-licensed to the national broadcasters. England’s games were sublicensed to ITV.
However, talks between the BBC and Viaplay have collapsed just days before the first round of Nations League fixtures.
It’s now hoped that a new broadcast company will step into the breach and agree a deal to sublicence the rights from Viaplay.
If that doesn’t happen, Northern Ireland’s match against Luxembourg at Windsor Park will not be broadcast live by any TV station.
Worse still for armchair football fans, there are no plans for a highlights show of the international to be shown on television.
Although BBC NI has a highlights show listed for Thursday evening, as things stand they do not have the rights to show the match.
Gary McAllister, Chairman of the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs, said: “The idea of a competitive Northern Ireland home match not only being unavailable as a live broadcast, but not even being available as a highlights package is unthinkable in the modern era.
“When Viaplay announced in July last year that they were pulling out of the UK market, it was expected that another broadcaster would step in and pick up the rights, which run until 2028.
“Premier Sports covered the remaining Euro 2024 qualifiers and some of the friendly games earlier this year, but it now seems that the Nations League games might not be shown live and I understand that this also impacts the ability of BBC Northern Ireland to show highlights.
“UEFA negotiated the rights to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales games as a package and I believe the onus should be on UEFA to try and resolve this matter and to ensure that the uncertainty around this is removed not just for this game, but also for the longer term.”
Michael O’Neill’s men start their Nations League campaign on Thursday against Luxembourg, before travelling to Plovdiv for Sunday’s clash with Bulgaria. Belarus make up the four-team group.