Howard Wells is calling for progress on the national stadium issue

"The IFA can barely sustain international football on current attendance levels of 13,000 plus," said chief executive Howard Wells.

He added that playing games outside NI next February and March would be a means of generating revenue.

Wells also gave his support to the Maze proposal for the national stadium.

"From my knowledge, other than the Maze proposal, there appears to be no other viable bid on the table, or one that will come forward in the near future," Wells stated in a letter to NI Sports Minister Edwin Poots.

"So further procrastination (on the stadium issue) has the potential to lead us nowhere other than down a blind alley.

"It is unlikely that any Belfast-driven initiative will sit well with the concept of a shared future.

"The IFA is very keen to work with the other two sports to drive change and to market sport across all sections of the community."

The Sports Minster has vowed to do all he can to prevent Northern Ireland matches being played outside the province.

"I would be horrified if we had to play international matches outside of Northern Ireland," said Mr Poots.

"As the minister in charge of sport I will do my utmost to ensure matches are not played outside of Northern Ireland.

"However, I cannot give you a guarantee that will not happen."