The Irish Football Association (IFA) has confirmed it will bring a case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after a number of underage Northern Irish players opted to play for the Republic of Ireland in recent times.
Current rules allow any players born on the island of Ireland to represent the Republic, even if they do not have family ties to the nation.
Portsmouth's Marc Wilson is set to make his Republic debut on Tuesday night against Brazil, despite having played underage internationals for Northern Ireland.
The same issue arose when Darron Gibson decided to play for Giovanni Trapattoni’s side, while Everton youngster Shane Duffy has also declared for the Republic even though he was recently called-up to a senior Northern Ireland squad.
The IFA stressed feels that after these incidents and the potential for future issues, that it had other choice regarding the resolution of player eligibility.
They believe ‘the current situation that exists puts the IFA at a clear disadvantage over all other 206 Associations’.
