Before this Nations League campaign, Northern Ireland had won just one of 16 games played in the second tier of the competition.
But after eight points from four games across September and October, all without conceding a goal, Michael O'Neill's side could end Saturday night as a League A side for the first time.
For that to come to pass, Hungary would need to lose to Georgia in Tbilisi [17:00 GMT] before a Northern Ireland win at home to Ukraine in the later kick-off.
Even if only they hold up their end of the bargain with a win at Windsor Park, the side would travel to Budapest on Tuesday night knowing a point would be good enough to top the group and seal promotion.
"You do look at the teams that do step up and it's tough. We've seen teams do that before and they find it very difficult," said O'Neill after stressing his side would be looking no further than the first game of this double-header.
"But for us to get that opportunity to play against those big teams in a competitive group stage would be great, it would be great for the development of the team.
"I wouldn't say the results at that point wouldn't be important, but I think we'd learn a lot."
