European qualifiers: Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill sees opportunity

Michael O'Neill admits he is looking forward to steering Northern Ireland’s European qualifying campaign but realises his job will be on the line if he fails to deliver.

Northern Ireland open their campaign on Sunday in Budapest where they face the once-mighty Hungary.

And thanks to a change of format, which sees 24 nations qualify for the latter stages in France instead of 16, the coach says more competing teams are excited at the prospect of reaching the finals.

Northern Ireland and Hungary have been drawn in Group F along with Greece, Romania, Finland and Faroe Islands.

The top two countries qualify automatically with the side that finishes third in the group guaranteed at least a two-legged play-off.

O’Neill says: "With any new campaign there is excitement, hope and belief and this is no different.

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"The players firmly believe this is a campaign we can do something in.

"I don't look at it as a type of make or break situation for myself, I look at it as an opportunity and hopefully the players do too.

"But any international manager now basically works campaign to campaign. Even if you are contracted over and above a campaign, if you have a poor one it may be the end of you anyway.

"At the end of the campaign that will be the time to review things and review what the future holds for me.

"But the main focus is on the job in hand, not a personal point of view.

"It's all about preparing the team well and giving ourselves the best chance of qualification."

Regarding their qualifying chances and this weekend’s opponents, O’Neill added: "Everyone thinks the third placed play-off spot makes it so much easier but the reality is Hungary, Finland, Romania and Greece will all fancy themselves to finish in the top three at least.

"Hungary took 17 points in their last group which is a very commendable total in any campaign.

“When you have that type of campaign expectation will be higher and I would think expectation here will be high.

"This is a strong Hungary squad with a lot of home-based players, which has its benefits.

"They have a strong togetherness because of that. We don't expect coming here to be any easier than Greece away or Romania away but it will give us a good benchmark for the level we need to get to."

Watch Northern Ireland take on Hungary in Budapest live on Sky Sports 5 on Sunday - coverage starts at 5pm.