Northern Ireland Men's Football Team

Image source, Inpho

Northern Ireland's Trai Hume believes the lessons from Saturday's 2-1 friendly defeat to Denmark can be of benefit during the side's 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Michael O'Neill's side begin their efforts to make it to the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer with trips to face Luxembourg and in September.

Despite taking the lead in Copenhagen, Sunderland defender Hume said the fact that his side were made to "suffer" without the ball for long periods can be instructive.

"We're going to have to go away to tough teams and probably suffer a bit without the ball the way we did [on Saturday] and try our best to be organised and disciplined," said the 23-year-old who captained the side for the third time.

"It was a very young team out there, especially when the subs came on.

"Obviously, that wee bit of inexperience [was telling], but that's stuff you have to learn from because we are going to go away and it's going to be probably even tougher than what it was."

Northern Ireland will conclude this international window with another friendly against Iceland at Windsor Park with the visitors arriving in Belfast off the back of an away victory over Scotland on Friday night.

"The home record has been very good of late and we don't want to lose that," Hume added.

"Iceland's going to be a tough test, it'll be another tough game, but we've got to be ready for it."

Northern Ireland face Denmark in Copenhagen on Saturday as Michael O'Neill prepares for the World Cup qualifiers that start in September.

The match is live across BBC Sport and here is all you need to know about our coverage.

TV coverage

Josh Magennis and Stuart Dallas are the pundits with Stephen Watson in studio with Gavin Andrews pitchside in Denmark.

Thomas Kane and former NI defender Stephen Craigan are on commentary with coverage starting on BBC Two NI and BBC iPlayer from 17:40 BST

Radio coverage

You can also listen to the match live on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster.

Former Northern Ireland internationals George McCartney and Keith Gillespie Mark Sidebottom in studio with coverage underway at 17:45 BST.

Former Northern Ireland defender John O'Neill will be alongside Joel Taggart on commentary.

Online coverage

You will be able to watch or listen to the match on the BBC Sport NI website with live text build-up starting from 17:00 BST.

We'll also have in-game clips during the match alongside our live text commentary with the best of the reaction, analysis and highlights after the game.

Denmark are unbeaten in all six of their previous home matches against Northern Ireland in all competitions (W4 D2), keeping four clean sheets.

Northern Ireland have won two of their last three games against Denmark (L1), after only winning one of their first 10 meetings with the Danes (D5 L4).

Northern Ireland have won just one of their last 24 matches against nations ranked inside the top 25 of the FIFA rankings (D5 L18), though it was a win against Denmark in November 2023.

Denmark have won 23 of their last 26 home matches in all competitions (D1 L2) and are unbeaten in each of their last 16 friendlies on home soil (W13 D3), since a 2-1 loss to in October 2015.

Northern Ireland are winless in each of their last three matches (D2 L1), their longest run since going five without victory between March and September 2023.

Denmark have lost two of their four matches under manager Brian Riemer (W1 D1), the same number of defeats as they suffered across their final 16 games under their previous permanent manager Kasper Hjulmand (W9 D5).

Christian Eriksen has been directly involved in four goals in his last five Denmark appearances, both scoring and assisting against Switzerland in October, and last time out against Portugal.

Isaac Price has scored in each of his last three national team appearances, with David Healy in August 2007 the last player to score in four successive outings for Northern Ireland.

All data provided by Opta

Image source, Press Eye

Ahead of Saturday's meeting between Northern Ireland and Denmark, let's take you back to the last time these two sides played.

Michael O'Neill's side ended a poor Euro 2024 qualifying campaign on a high with a 2-0 win over the Danes at Windsor Park in November 2023.

Second-half goals from Isaac Price and Dion Charles sealed the victory against the visitor who had already secured their place in the Euros.

As a result, they rested a few big names for the Windsor Park encounter, with Manchester United pair Rasmus Hojlund and Christian Eriksen already missing out through injury.

That didn't make the much-needed victory any less sweet for the Northern Ireland players and ers, however, with the Green and White Army bursting into life for the majority of the second half of a game in which there was little more than pride at stake.

Read our match report from that night.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, PressEye

Experienced striker Josh Magennis is targeting a Northern Ireland return, itting he can "never be comfortable" with being left out of a squad.

Manager Michael O'Neill omitted the 34-year-old frontman from March's friendlies to assess new forward options, but said the door would remain open for Magennis.

Hip surgery has ruled Magennis out of June's games with Denmark and Iceland. but the Exeter City forward is aiming for a return when World Cup qualifying begins in September.

"You can never be comfortable being left out of a squad," said Magennis, who has 12 goals in 82 Northern Ireland caps.

"That's your own selfish ego, but you have to try and see the bigger picture.

"Similar happened to me when I came into the squad, when Michael wanted to see me but there were other players before me and he knew what they could do."

Magennis added that he still "has got a lot to offer" his country after scoring 12 goals in all competitions for League One side Exeter during the 2024-25 season.

"It's up to me to continue to perform and keep my head down, and be ready to go whenever that opportunity comes again," Magennis added.

"I still feel like I've got a lot to offer. I feel like I'm progressing and doing well, so I'm not slowing down any time soon."

While recovering from surgery, Magennis is undertaking a coach education course with the Irish FA and working on his coaching badges, and says "it's a ion that I've got" when his playing career comes to a close.

"I'll continue to play as long as I possibly can. I'm still enjoying playing football, but unfortunately in every dream you have to wake up and for me that's getting closer and closer as the seasons go on.

"It's a ion I've got now to understand the game, learn the game and develop players as much as I can."