Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and is located in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. It has a population of 1.81 million people and the capital is Belfast.
The Irish Football Association is the governing body of football in Northern Ireland and is based in Belfast. The IFA has the overall responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. It is responsible for the operation of the Northern Ireland national football team, the annual Irish Cup, the IFA Premiership and Championship divisions and several other duties important to the functioning of the game in the province. The IFA was formed in 1880 by football clubs mostly in the Belfast area, and in its infancy operated as the organising body for the sport across all of Ireland. It became affiliated FIFA in 1911 and to UEFA in 1954. The highest ranked competition in Northern Ireland is the IFA Premiership which was formerly known as the Irish Premier League, and before that the Irish Football League. The IFA Premiership was founded in 2008 but the original Irish Football League was formed back in 1890. The IFA Premiership currently has 12 clubs and the league is run as a semi-professional competition. The most successful club in Northern Irish football in terms of league championship wins is held by Linfield, followed by Glentoran and Belfast Celtic (now defunct). Nine other clubs have won the championship, including Lisburn Distillery, Portadown and Crusaders. Below the top tier, the national league structure comprises the IFA Championship 1 (12 clubs) and IFA Championship 2 (12 clubs). The IFA Championship is the successor to the IFA Intermediate League (later known as the Irish Football League First Division) and the Irish League B Division (later known as the Irish League Second Division). |
The top three tiers are administered by the Irish Football Association and there is a system of promotion and relegation between the tiers.
In 2010–11, a pyramid system was introduced with the possibility of promotion and relegation between the Championship and the four regional intermediate leagues, namely the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League, Mid-Ulster Football League, Northern Amateur League and Northern Ireland Intermediate League. The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Irish Cup, is the national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland.. The competition was first held in 1881 and is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. The competition is open to all clubs in Northern Ireland with intermediate or senior status and around 120 clubs enter the competition. The most successful club in the Irish Cup has been Linfield, followed by Glentoran and Distillery. |
Main league tables & results
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See Current League Tables - for more coverage
Season by season matrix
Appreciation: Full recognition and acknowledgement is made to the work of the contributors to the Irish Football Club Project and Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation who have catalogued the above tables.
See Historic League Tables - for more coverage
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