(Reuters) - Ireland will face Northern Ireland in a friendly at Dublin's Aviva Stadium in November, the first meeting between the two sides since May 2011.
The two nations will use the fixture scheduled on Thursday, Nov. 15 as a warm-up ahead of the final round of group-stage matches of the UEFA Nations League.
"UEFA have made it mandatory that we play a friendly on that date and when we looked at the options across Europe, travelling to Dublin to play the Republic of Ireland made a lot of sense," Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill said in a statement.
"Qualification for UEFA Euro 2020 is our number one priority now and with the UEFA Nations League a potential route to the tournament, this game means that we will be as prepared as possible for the Austria match."
Northern Ireland host Austria at Windsor Park on Nov. 18 and the Republic takes on Denmark away a day later.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
