Women's Nations League: Who can Northern Ireland face in play-off?
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Northern Ireland dropped into third place in Group B1 after losing to the Republic of Ireland and will now face a relegation-promotion play-off with either Latvia, Montenegro or Bulgaria
After Northern Ireland's hopes of promotion from the Nations League were dashed by the Republic of Ireland, attentions have turned to what is next.
Northern Ireland slipped into third position in League B and now face a two-legged relegation-promotion play-off against a League C team.
Tanya Oxtoby's side are ranked 47th and will be favourites to come out on top no matter who they draw, especially having home advantage in the second leg.
The draw takes place on Monday at Uefa's headquarters in Switzerland. Here is who Northern Ireland can face in February.
Latvia
World ranking: 119
Nations League form: Drawn with Malta, Andorra and Moldova, Latvia finished second in League C1 with three wins from their six matches.
The Latvians survived a major scare against lowly Andorra when they scored twice in stoppage time to snatch a 3-3 draw.
Despite that, they had a chance to sneak into top spot on the final day but lost 2-1 to eventual group winners Malta, who they also lost to earlier in the group, and had to settle for second place.
What are they like? This would be the ideal draw for Northern Ireland for two reasons. First, they are the lowest-ranked team of the three available (although the fact they finished second in their group shows they should be higher than that). Secondly, and more significantly, Northern Ireland know they can beat them.
In their first game at the redeveloped Windsor Park, Northern Ireland ran out 4-0 winners over Latvia in September 2021 thanks to goals from Louise McDaniel, Kirsty McGuinness, Marissa Callaghan and Rachel Furness.
The reverse fixture was only their second match after the Euro 2022 finals and Northern Ireland survived a scare to win 3-1 in Jurmala - bizarrely through three Latvian own goals.
There is plenty of experience with the ones to watch being two 23-year-olds, Karlina Miksone and Viktorija Zaicikova, who have both already hit a half century of caps.
Bulgaria
Kristiana Karaivanova is one of a number of promising players in Bulgaria's ranks
World ranking: 90
Nations League form: Bulgaria were drawn in Group C5 with Kosovo and North Macedonia, the smallest of the groups.
Kosovo were comfortable winners with three wins and a draw in their four matches, including a 5-1 victory over the Bulgarians.
They did draw with Kosovo in the reverse fixture, but their only win was a narrow 1-0 victory over North Macedonia in the opener before a 2-2 draw in the final game.
For context, Northern Ireland beat North Macedonia 11-0 and 9-0 at the end of 2021.
What are they like? After sitting out a number of Euro and World Cup qualification campaigns, Bulgaria have not had a huge amount of experience on the international stage in recent times.
Their squad for the final two Nations League matches was relatively inexperienced, with Lokomotiv Stara Zagora goalkeeper Roksana Shahanska leading the way with 31 caps.
Given that, they remain something of an unknown but teenagers Kristiana Karaivanova, Yoana Stankova and Aleksandra Sergeeva are coming through at Spezia, Sassuolo and Wolfsburg - which is no mean feat.
Montenegro
Armisa Kuc is Montenegro's record caps holder and top scorer
World ranking: 91
Nations League form: If it wasn't for Azerbaijan, there is an argument that Montenegro wouldn't even be in the play-offs.
Aside from the two defeats by the group winners, Montenegro were comfortably best of the rest and had an eye for goal, putting nine past the Faroe Islands and also easily defeating Cyprus twice.
Ankara BB Fomget striker Armisa Kuc was the one to watch for Montenegro in 2023 as she scored seven goals across the year. The 31-year-old is also the most capped player and is their record goalscorer, with 30 goals in 75 games, which isn't a bad return for a side which has largely struggled.
What are they like? Northern Ireland have never faced Montenegro, but like Tanya Oxtoby's side there is a balance in the squad of those who play in the domestic league and those who have spread their wings abroad.
As well as Kuc, who we mentioned above, Nuremberg striker Medina Desic is a key player and captain Sladana Bulatovic has had spells in Hungary, where she became the league's record scorer, Spain, Japan and Turkey.
They had good form prior to the Nations League as well, winning four of their five friendlies but there is no doubt Northern Ireland would be a step up in level in the play-off.
Montenegro came up against a developing Republic of Ireland side in Euro 2022 qualifying and lost 2-0 in Dublin before a 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture.