The hardcore footage that has rocked local soccer circles appeared on YouTube last week, but was quickly removed from the popular website.

It can still, however, be viewed on other local football websites

It is now the subject of an IFA probe, with football chiefs furious that the horny young players - on international duty at age-group level - wore their official Northern Ireland training kits while taking part in the XXX-rated romp.

The steamy sex tape filmed on a mobile phone was shot in a local hotel bathroom and features four young stars romping with a Co Down woman believed to be in her early 20s.

Sunday Life has seen the footage and identified the players and the young woman involved in the 'roasting' - the term coined by rich young soccer stars who use it to describe seedy sex sessions where women seduced by the celebrity lifestyle of modern footballers have sex with more than one man.

The explicit 20-second clip - understood to be part of a much longer video - was recorded by a sixth person who had crammed into the small hotel bathroom to film the orgy.

Two of the players are involved in sex acts with a young woman who appears to be covered with a towel while the other two men look on.

One of the players appears to have stumbled into the bathroom and looks embarrassed when he notices the camera and tries to shield his face, but is clearly identifiable.

As the short clip ends, one of the men involved in the sex acts with the woman flashes a cheeky grin at the camera.

The four players caught on camera are all wearing official IFA training tops and those in charge in the local game are now investigating the incident.

A spokesman for the IFA said: "The Irish FA is aware of the situation and is taking it very seriously. The Association will be investigating the matter thoroughly using a detailed process, and until all facts have been examined, no further comment will be made."

The woman featured in the clip is from the Co Down area and has a busy Bebo website where she counts footballers and DJs among her dozens of pals and boasts of how she enjoys partying.

The tape shows that the young players are determined to follow in the footsteps of their Premiership heroes on the pitch and in their tawdry antics off the pitch.

A string of Premiership superstars have had their booze-fuelled sex antics caught on camera and made public.

They include Chelsea star Frank Lampard, £30m Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and current West Ham star Kieron Dyer, who famously filmed themselves having sex with girls while holidaying in the party resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus.

The emergence of the football sex-tape is just the latest in a series of embarrassing disciplinary blows to rock the IFA in recent months.

It comes just months after senior players scuffled on board a flight home from the Euro qualifier defeat in Iceland and after complaints from fans that players had been out boozing in the early hours after the defeat days earlier in Latvia.

cmcguigan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk