After The Belfast Telegraph broke the story yesterday, Sky and the IFA confirmed they had agreed a new four year contract which will see all Northern Ireland home matches covered exclusively live by the satellite broadcaster from May 2008.

Effectively that means the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and Euro 2012 qualifiers.

It is understood that Sanchez is delighted with the deal.

He has felt for some time that the Northern Ireland team's recent achievements have not been recognised in the rest of the UK because of a lack of national coverage.

BBC Northern Ireland, of course, covered the games previously and while their ratings have been huge here, across the water Sky Sports can make a bigger impact.

Sanchez is the caretaker manager of Fulham and will get offered the full-time job if he keeps them in the Premiership.

He feels he can do both the international and club jobs and having the carrot of exposure on Sky might encourage him to persuade Fulham that it is possible.

The fact that the deal is worth £10 million also means the IFA have more money to spend on a new contract for Sanchez.

"I have made it clear that we will do everything we can to ensure that Lawrie stays as Northern Ireland manager until the end of the European Championship qualifying campaign, and hopefully beyond," said IFA President Jim Boyce.

"A fantastic deal like this can only help us in that aim. Like Lawrie, we have big ambitions and we want him to help us achieve them."