Would you travel to the World Cup if your country hasn't made it?

Would you travel thousands of miles to go to the Fifa World Cup, even if your country wasn't playing?

Neither Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland qualified for the tournament.

But that hasn't stopped some football fans making the journey to North America to see some of the world's best teams.

BBC News NI has been chatting to some fans about just how far they would go for the love of the game.

Originally from Coleraine, Roger Woodend now lives in Philadelphia.

His journey is perhaps shorter than some others, but still involves travelling to a different country - in this instance, Canada - to catch a game.

It has become something of a tradition for him and his friend Alex Logan, who is from Ballymoney, but lives in Scotland.

Both previously visited Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, a tournament that also didn't feature Northern Ireland, but nevertheless the country has still been represented thanks to the pair's matching green and white jerseys.

"It is amazing. It's fantastic. It's great to see people from all over the world here supporting their team. It's great to see the Americans embracing it," Woodend said.

"It's a really good atmosphere, there's a real massive energy around the whole place."

Logan agreed that, while football - or soccer to people in the US - may not be the biggest sport in America, "people are getting into it".

"It just feels like a proper World Cup atmosphere. I know there's been a lot of concerns about all sorts of different things, but to me, it's just a real normal World Cup."

The first match they went to was Canada v Bosnia-Herzegovina at Toronto Stadium, which would have been one of Northern Ireland's games.

Woodend said they even bumped into a group of fans who had travelled from Bangor, County Down.

"It's a shame we didn't make it. I'm hoping that we'll make it to the next one."

Richard Kehoe, a primary school teacher and junior football coach from Newry, is a Republic of Ireland fan.

He travelled to the United States with his dad and met up with his brother who now lives in North Carolina.

They watched South Africa take on Czech Republic - a fixture that would have been one of Ireland's, had they qualified.

"We were talking about the possibility of Ireland getting through to the World Cup and travelling over to meet him and one of the games would be in Atlanta, which was only a three or four hour drive away from him.

"We decided to go ahead and take the chance and book flights," he said.

He added that it was "heartbreaking" when Ireland did not qualify.

"As the weeks have gone on I'm back excited again just to get over, there'll be a good buzz around the place."

Ronan Quinn from Omagh will be visiting Toronto to visit friends who have moved out there.

As a "big football fan" he sees it as a "good excuse to go and see the World Cup" as it is "probably a once in a lifetime thing".

He has paid about £200 for tickets to see Senegal take on Iraq.

Money has been a topic of conversation at this World Cup with several fans telling BBC News that, for some, the cost of attending the tournament has stretched into the thousands.

But they said their love of football and the memories they hoped to create eased the sting.

And Quinn agrees.

"I think, you know, for a sporting event. It's not too bad."

Jonny Blair is also travelling to Canada, he's hoping the World Cup "buzz" will provide just as much entertainment.

"We're going to do the fan zone." he said.

"I've already been to the World Cup twice. I've been to like four World Cup games. I've been to the Euros to watch Northern Ireland men's, Northern Ireland women.

"So, I've done a lot of major tournament matches and I'm quite happy to sort of catch the buzz and the vibe of people in and around the stadium without having to pay a few hundred quid to get in.

"I'm not going to miss anything by not being inside the stadium.

"I don't want to deprive the right for someone from Ghana or Canada of their ticket."

He said part of the joy is that tournaments "bring people together in a positive way".

"When the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were together at the Euros, we would bump into each other and have a right laugh. It brings countries together."