Northern Ireland Women's Football Team

Image source, West Ham United

Northern Ireland teenager Joel Kerr has signed his first professional contract at West Ham United.

The 17-year-old forward joined the London outfit from Glentoran's academy in 2025, making 20 appearances and netting eight goals at u18 level.

Kerr has captained Northern Ireland at under-17 level, including during their Uefa European U17 Championship qualifying campaign in Coleraine.

"It's a really proud moment for me and my family," Kerr said after the announcement.

"It's obviously something I've wanted to do and have been working towards for a while now, so it's great to see that dream become a reality and sign professional.

"My last 12 months have been really good. Hopefully that's something I can keep building on to make sure the next 12 months are even better."

Kerr will now join up with the Northern Ireland u19s in Romania for their three Uefa European U19 Championship Elite Round qualifiers.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Northern Ireland captain Jackie Burns says interim manager Kris Lindsay has given the players "something to build on" despite a 2-0 defeat in Switzerland in World Cup qualifying.

Riola Xhemaili opened the scoring in the 22nd minute from a corner and Northern Ireland, despite creating limited opportunities, frustrated the hosts.

However, their resolve was broken in injury time as Svenja Folmli scored from 20 yards to make sure the Swiss, who reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2025, started with an opening three points.

Lindsay will be in charge for at least the opening set of qualifiers after being named as interim manager to replace Tanya Oxtoby, who left her role in November.

Northern Ireland will look to bounce back at home to Turkey, who beat Malta 3-0 in their opener, on Saturday.

"It's something to build on and Kris has given us free rein. It's the belief and the bravery to go out and just play," Burns said.

"We're still in the building process and hopefully, come Saturday, it will be a better performance."

Burns was handed the armband in the absence of regular skipper Simone Magill, who announced her pregnancy in November.

The goalkeeper, who joined Bristol City in January, said it was "tough" to lose the game but "it was full of positives".

"We're disappointed that we've conceded two goals, but we put in a really solid performance from start to finish," Burns added.

"It was a performance that had been a long time coming and we defended for our lives, which really showed."

Image source, Inpho

Northern Ireland will play their first home 2027 Women's World Cup qualifier against Turkey at Mourneview Park.

The game at the home of Irish Premiership side Glenavon will take place on Saturday, 7 March with kick-off at 19:00 GMT.

NI last played at Mourneview in June 2024, when they were beaten 2-1 by Portugal in a Euro 2025 qualifier.

The home game against Turkey comes four days after their trip to face top seeds Switzerland in their opening Group B2 game on Tuesday, 3 March.

Former Lurgan Blues manager and first team coach Kris Lindsay will take charge of NI for those first two qualifiers on an interim basis as the Irish Football Association continue their search to find Tanya Oxtoby's permanent successor after she left the role in November to take over at Newcastle United.

Following those two games in March, Northern Ireland will face a home and away double-header against Malta in April.

They will round off the group stage of qualifying with an away game against Turkey and a home game against Switzerland in June.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Inpho

It has been 68 days since Tanya Oxtoby's departure as Senior Women's team manager, and Wednesday marks 35 days until the start of World Cup qualifying.

Yet Northern Ireland's search for a permanent replacement for the Australian goes on.

Kris Lindsay is a highly-respected coach and well liked both within the Irish FA and across football in Northern Ireland, and it cannot be ruled out that he will turn out to be the long-term solution for the women's team, and a successful one at that.

But this is not the first time the IFA have taken a protracted approach for the position.

When Kenny Shiels left his role in January 2023, it wasn't until that August that Oxtoby was appointed.

In that time, Northern Ireland did not play in the February window, had Andy Waterworth in charge for a friendly with Wales, while Gail Redmond, along with Lindsay, was interim manager for June friendlies in Scotland and the Czech Republic.

Angela Platt, the director of women's football at the IFA, said she wants a "robust process" for replacing Oxtoby, but the public nature of the application through a recruitment agency raises more questions than answers.

Having such an open process, instead of targeting a manager, suggests a lack of strategy and clarity going forward post-Oxtoby.

The IFA are determined to land the right person for the job, hence the drawn-out approach, but Northern Ireland did not take part in the December window after Oxtoby's departure and enter a crucial campaign without a clear plan in place for moving forward.

Qualifying for the 2027 World Cup was always going to be a challenge, and unless Lindsay is the permanent answer, disruption caused by a lack of consistency across the campaign has the potential to do more harm than good to a young squad who are trying to improve to reach the next level.