NI squad - who's fit and who's been on the move?

Northern Ireland begin their World Cup qualifying campaign in September against Luxembourg and Germany

Northern Ireland will begin their quest to reach a first World Cup since 1986 with home and away qualifying games against Luxembourg and Germany next month, which will be live on the BBC.

It will be the first time the squad has assembled since June and the two tricky games are NI's first competitive fixtures since March.

Michael O'Neill will name his squad for the opening fixtures at the start of September on Thursday afternoon.

Ahead of the squad announcement, BBC Sport NI looks at the major talking points surrounding the fitness, form and summer moves that a number of players have made.

Bradley among number of injury doubts

Bradley missed the end of Liverpool's pre-season and the start of their Premier League campaign through an unspecified injury

Despite Northern Ireland's first World Cup qualifying game against Luxembourg at home on Thursday, 4 September still being over two weeks away, O'Neill already has a number of injury concerns.

The main one is Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley, who has missed the start of his club's season with a minor but unspecified injury.

Bradley sat out the Community Shield final defeat by Crystal Palace and Liverpool's opening Premier League win over Bournemouth on Friday night, with Reds boss Arne Slot yet to give an update on his fitness.

The expectation is that O'Neill will include the 22-year-old in his squad and allow him to prove his fitness, such is his importance to the side and especially with a huge game in Cologne against Germany taking place just four days after the Luxembourg fixture.

O'Neill is also set to be without goalkeeper Conor Hazard, who is still recovering from a knee injury sustained playing in Northern Ireland's 2-1 friendly loss to Denmark in June.

The 27-year-old has missed Plymouth Argyle's first five games of the season with manager Tom Cleverley saying earlier this month that they will be "patient" over the goalkeeper's return.

Ciaron Brown recently suffered a minor setback from a knee ligament injury that saw him miss Northern Ireland's June friendlies, so he faces a race against time to prove his fitness having failed to feature for Oxford United so far this season.

The September international break will definitely come too soon for Jordan Thompson.

The midfielder, who joined Preston North End in the summer, will be missing for the next couple of months following ankle surgery.

On a more positive note, Paddy McNair seems in with a chance of returning to the squad after missing the June double-header through injury as he returned to the bench for club San Diego at the weekend.

Ballard, Hume and Price start the season well

Ballard scored on his Premier League debut as Sunderland beat West Ham 3-0 on Saturday

Quite a few Northern Ireland players have made a positive start to the campaign at club level, which will breed confidence ahead of the upcoming international window.

Sunderland duo Daniel Ballard and Trai Hume impressed in the Black Cats' first game back in the Premier League, a 3-0 victory against West Ham, with Ballard netting the second with a trademark towering header.

Justin Devenny scored the winning penalty for Crystal Palace in the Community Shield final against Liverpool and came off the bench in the Eagles' 0-0 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The real standout so far has been Isaac Price, who has taken his goal-scoring form at international level to his club West Brom.

The 21-year-old scored the winner against Blackburn Rovers and then netted twice in their 3-2 win over Wrexham to take him to three goals in two Championship games.

The Charles brothers are also finding regular game time in the Championship, with Pierce taking over as number one goalkeeper at crisis club Sheffield Wednesday and impressing.

He has been linked with a move away from the club too with the likes of West Ham and Rangers reportedly interested in acquiring his services.

Meanwhile, Shea has started both of Southampton's games under new boss Will Still.

Eoin Toal was named Bolton Wanderers captain in the summer and netted in their opening day win against Plymouth.

Jamie Reid has three goals in three games for Stevenage in League One, which could earn him a recall to the squad.

Plenty of NI players make summer switches

Galbraith has made the step up to the Championship with Swansea after impressing in League One last year at Leyton Orient

It has been a busy summer for Northern Ireland players with many making the moves to new clubs in search of regular game time and to force their way back into the international reckoning.

Midfielder Ethan Galbraith joined Championship side Swansea City from League One's Leyton Orient for an undisclosed fee.

Jamie Donley, who also impressed on loan at Orient last year, has departed Tottenham Hotspur on a temporary basis again, making the move to Championship side Stoke City for the season.

Brodie Spencer has switched to Oxford United from Huddersfield while George Saville has dropped down to League One, signing for Luton Town.

Dale Taylor has made the permanent move to Blackpool in League One for an undisclosed fee from Nottingham Forest.

He links up with Bailey Peacock-Farrell at the Seasiders, with the goalkeeper joining on loan from Birmingham City.

Caolan Boyd-Munce swapped St Mirren for Wycombe Wanderers and has been replaced at the Scottish club by fellow NI midfielder Liam Donnelly.

Goalkeepers Christy Pym and Luke Southwood have been on the move, with the former joining Grimsby Town and the latter Bristol Rovers.

Lee Bonis has signed for Chesterfield in League Two from Dutch side Ado Den Haag, while Ross McCausland has left Rangers on loan to move to Cyprus and join Aris Limassol.

The most surprising move - probably ended his hopes of an international recall - is Conor Washington's switch to Matlock Town, who play in the eighth tier of English football.

Tough set of qualifying fixtures for NI

Germany lost in the semi-finals of the Nations League against eventual winners Portugal

The long road to next year's World Cup finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada begin earnestly in Belfast next month.

It is a belated start given that most other teams in Europe started their qualifiers in March, but this is due to the fact that NI are in the four-team Group A.

NI have effectively three ways to qualify for the tournament. If they top the group, they will automatically secure a spot in the World Cup.

If they finish second, they will join the 11 other second-placed teams and the four best Nations League group winners who did not automatically qualify for the World Cup for a play-off which will involve a semi-final and final.

If they miss out on the top two, Northern Ireland's group-winning performance in the Nations League means there is still an outside chance of reaching the World Cup.

For O'Neill's side to secure a play-off spot through this route, they would require eight of the 11 teams above them in ranking of group winners to finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group.

Those teams are Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, England, Norway, Wales, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and North Macedonia.

NI's opening game is an ideal one to get their campaign off to a flier as Luxembourg are the lowest ranked team in the group.

They are also familiar opponents as O'Neill's side faced Luxembourg twice in the Nations League in the autumn, collecting a win and a draw.

The team then have the daunting trip to Germany, who will be favourites to progress as group winners and automatically book their spot at the World Cup.

Up next in October is a home game against Slovakia, who defeated Northern Ireland in extra time in a Euro 2020 play-off the last time the two sides met, and a home meeting with Germany.

They round off their condensed campaign with two games they will feel they have to win to progress - away to Slovakia and at home against Luxembourg.

NI's World Cup qualifiers

Luxembourg v Northern Ireland - Thursday, 4 September (19:45 BST)

Germany v Northern Ireland - Sunday, 7 September (19:45 BST)

Northern Ireland v Slovakia - Friday, 10 October (19:45 BST)

Northern Ireland v Germany - Monday, 13 October (19:45 BST)

Slovakia v Northern Ireland - Friday, 14 November (19:45 GMT)

Northern Ireland v Luxembourg - Monday, 17 November (19:45 GMT)