What has changed for NI since Nations League?

International friendly: Northern Ireland v Switzerland

Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Friday, 21 March Time: 19:45 GMT

Coverage: Watch on BBC Northern Ireland & iPlayer; listen on BBC Radio Ulster & Sounds; live text coverage & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website & app

The start of Northern Ireland's World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign may still be almost six months away but Michael O'Neill has just four more games to prepare his side for their efforts to make it to the tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer.

Slovakia, Luxembourg and either Italy or Germany will make up their qualifying group but, before those games begin in September, they will play friendlies against Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland and one as yet unconfirmed opponent.

It has been an eventful few months for a number of players included in O'Neill's panel for the first of those games at home to the Swiss on Friday evening and against Sweden in Stockholm on 25 March.

With some new faces in the group and others having made January moves, BBC Sport NI looks at how the squad have fared since topping their Nations League C group last year.

The omission of Birmingham City's Bailey Peacock-Farrell was among the headlines from O'Neill's squad announcement last week. The 48-times capped goalkeeper lost the number one jersey through injury during the Nations League campaign and has started just one league game for his club since October.

His successor at international level, Pierce Charles, is also struggling for minutes at club level. Stuck behind the on-loan James Beadle at Sheffield Wednesday, he has played just once for the Owls since winning his fourth cap in November.

That came in the FA Cup third-round defeat by Coventry City, the same competition in which Conor Hazard made headlines with clean sheets against Premier League opposition Brentford and Liverpool. The Pilgrims' run would end with a 3-1 defeat by Manchester City but, after missing the Nations League campaign following ankle surgery, the Downpatrick man has now started the past 13 games for the Championship club.

The third goalkeeper in O'Neil's squad, Luke Southwood, had been starting for Bolton Wanderers but found himself on the bench for their defeat by Stockport County last weekend.

The absence of Liverpool's Conor Bradley and Sunderland's Dan Ballard through injury will be keenly felt, and there have been changes among O'Neill's defensive unit.

Portsmouth's Terry Devlin is the only uncapped defender in the squad. The former Glentoran man has been getting regular minutes in the Championship, mostly at right-back although he can also play midfield.

Three others have changed clubs since last appearing in the green jersey.

With Josh Magennis only on the standby list for these friendlies, Paddy McNair is both the squad's most-capped player and top scorer. The 29-year-old former Middlesbrough player was used only sparingly during his loan spell at West Bromwich Albion but, through four games, has played all but 35 minutes of San Diego FC's Major League Soccer (MLS) campaign so far.

Aaron Donnelly made his international debut against Andorra in June when still a Nottingham Forest player but joined Dundee during the summer window. He spent the first half of the season on loan at Colchester United but was recalled by his parent club in January and has already made 11 starts for the Scottish Premiership side.

Another in the squad after a recent move is Ruairi McConville who earned his first two caps in November and has since left Brighton for Norwich City, making two appearances off the bench for the Canaries.

Trai Hume and Ciaron Brown continue to be relied upon heavily at Championship clubs Sunderland and Oxford United, while Eoin Toal is back in the side at League One Bolton Wanderers.

Also in the third tier, having been used as both a left and right-sided defender by O'Neill for Northern Ireland, Brodie Spencer has recently been turning out as a central defender for Huddersfield Town.

Although Ali McCann misses out through injury, the midfield group has a more settled look about it.

Crystal Palace's Justin Devenny, who made his international debut in November, is the only player in the squad to have appeared in the Premiership this season, doing so 14 times to go along with four outings in domestic cups.

O'Neill can, however, call upon plenty of midfielders seeing regular action in the Championship.

Despite some speculation over his future in January, midfielder Shea Charles remained on loan at Sheffield Wednesday from Southampton and the man who captained Northern Ireland in their two most recent fixtures has been ever present in the Owls midfield in Championship fixtures since he arrived at Hillsborough.

At Queen's Park Rangers, Paul Smyth is another getting regular football in England's second tier, as is Millwall's George Saville, while Jordan Thompson has himself back in the team at Stoke City of late.

Isaac Price, who has the second most international goals among those in the squad for these fixtures, made the switch from Standard Liege to West Bromwich Albion in January and has already impressed for the play-off hopefuls, getting his first goal for the club on Saturday.

Down in League One, Ethan Galbraith's form has been strong for Leyton Orient, winning his side's player of the month award in February after reportedly attracting interest from Championship sides in the January window.

In the absence of Magennis, O'Neill's group of strikers have just four senior international goals between them - and all of those have been provided by Dion Charles - but it is an intriguing collection of players nonetheless.

Former Cliftonville striker Ronan Hale is available for the first time having netted 12 times this season since his summer move to Scottish Premiership side Ross County.

While former Republic of Ireland youth international Hale's switch to Northern Ireland has been on the cards for months, the expected inclusion of Jamie Donely comes as more of a surprise.

The Tottenham Hotspur attacker, 20, was born in Antrim but had previously represented England Under-19s.

While a formal transfer procedure similar to Hale's will need to occur in the future in order for him to play in the World Cup qualifiers, after impressing on loan at Leyton Orient this season, he can feature in this month's friendly fixtures immediately.

With six goals and six assists for Orient this year, he and Hale provide two new options for O'Neill, whose other forwards have also been finding the net regularly.

Former Larne man Lee Bonis who made his international debut in November has 10 for ADO Den Haag, while Callum Marshall (nine) and Dale Taylor (eight) have been among the goals for Huddersfield Town and Wigan Athletic.

With that latter pair on loan deals from West Ham and Nottingham Forest respectively, Charles is the only one of O'Neill's strikers who has not spent this season with a new club, and the Bolton man has eight goals this season.