Northern Ireland’s first outing of 2025 sees them welcome Switzerland to Windsor Park for a friendly under the lights on Friday night.
Michael O’Neill’s Green and White Army are in decent nick, having lost only one of their last seven games in all competitions, and the visit of the nation ranked 20th in the world – 51 places above them – should give them a great opportunity to gauge just where they’re at before beginning their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign.
Here, we delve into some interesting statistical nuggets to take into account ahead of the action…
Northern Ireland aiming for a 41-year high
Northern Ireland come into this clash on a run of four straight home wins, having beaten Denmark in Euro 2024 qualification, and Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Belarus in the Nations League – by an aggregate scoreline of 11-0.
The Green and White Army haven’t won five in a row at home since between 1983 and 1984, when they recorded victories over Austria, Scotland, Romania, Israel and Finland under legendary boss Billy Bingham.
This will be Northern Ireland’s fifth home encounter with Switzerland; they’ve won two and drawn one of the previous four.
More goals for Magennis?
Only five players have ever scored more goals for Northern Ireland than Josh Magennis, who has found the net 12 times for his country.
One more goal will put the Exeter City striker joint third on the all-time list, behind only David Healy – who’s still miles out in front on 36 – and Kyle Lafferty – whose 20 might just be catchable.
Remarkably, Magennis hasn’t even always been a centre-forward: he was a goalkeeper until his late teens!
Fresh faces hoping to be involved
As many as four players could make their senior Northern Ireland debuts against Switzerland.
Portsmouth right-back Terry Devlin and Motherwell centre-half Kofi Balmer have both been called up before, although neither has featured for the Green and White Army to date.
Meanwhile, forwards Ronan Hale (Ross County) and Jamie Donley (Leyton Orient on loan from Tottenham) are both in the squad for the first time, having switched allegiance from the Republic of Ireland and England respectively.
