NIFL Premiership | Soccer-tainment

NIFL Premiership

FIFA Region

UEFA

Season

2018-2019

Location

Northern Ireland

Abbreviation

NIR1

Click to view the
map of participating teams

Summary

The NIFL Premiership (NIR1), or Dankse Bank Premiership, is the top division in Northern Ireland's football system. At the end of the 2018-2019 NIR1 season, the NIR1 teams listed below qualify for the following non-league play:

2019-2020 UEFA Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round:
- 1st place 2018-2019 NIR1 team
2019-2020 UEFA Europa League - Preliminary Round:
- 2nd place 2018-2019 NIR1 team
- 2018-2019 NIR1 UEFA Europa League Playoffs winner

The winner of the 2018-2019 Irish Football Association Challenge Cup (Irish Cup), typically a NIR1 team, also receives a berth in the 1st Qualifying Round of the 2019-2020 UEFA Europa League.

Leagues Pyramid - Northern Ireland

Abbrev	League	# of Teams
NIR1	Dankse Bank Premiership	12
NIR2	NIFL Championship	12
NIR3	NIFL Premier Intermediate League	12

Competition Structure

Season			# of Teams
Regular 4 Aug 2018 - 30 Mar 2019	Champ/Releg Rounds 5 Apr 2019 - 27 Apr 2019	UEFAEL Playoffs 30 Apr 2019 - 11 May 2019	12: NIR1 (10 minimum), NIR2 (2 maximum)

Season Format

The 2018-2019 NIR1 season consists of 2 stages. In the first stage, each NIR1 team plays the other 11 NIR1 teams 3 times for a total of 33 league matches. In each 3 match series one team hosts 2 home matches and the other team hosts 1 home match. In the second stage, the top six teams play each other a 4th time (5 more matches) to determine final rankings for UEFA Champions League and Europa League placements, and the bottom six teams play each other a 4th time (5 more matches) to determine the relegation placements. Total points are for all 38 matches. Table ranking ties are broken by (1) goal difference, (2) goals scored, (3) head-to-head points, (4) head-to-head goal difference, then (5) a playoff.

Playoffs

Not applicable.

Relegation

At the end of the 2018-2019 NIR1 season, the 12th place NIR1 team is relegated to the NIR2, and the 11th place NIR1 team enters into a Home-Away highest aggregate score playoff with the 2nd place NIR2 team. The playoff winner and the 1st place NIR2 team play in the 2019-2020 NIR1, and the playoff loser plays in the 2019-2020 NIR2.

More Info...

UEFAEL Playoffs - Finals

Date

Home

Status

Road

Venue

Sat - 11 May 2019

Glentoran FC

Cliftonville

Solitude (Belfast)

UEFAEL Playoffs - Semifinals

Date

Home

Status

Road

Venue

Tue - 7 May 2019

Mourneview Park

Solitude (Belfast)

Relegation Playoffs

Date

Home

Status

Road

Venue

Aggregate

Carrick Rangers FC (NIR2)

Ards FC (NIR1)

03.05.19

Carrick Rangers FC

Ards FC

Belfast Loughshore Hotel Arena

06.05.19	Ards FC		12		Carrick Rangers FC	Bangor Fuels Arena
	Carrick Rangers FC is promoted to NIR1

2nd Stage

		League							Home						Road
POS		MP	W - D - L	PTS	CPTS	GF	GA	GD	MP	W - D - L	PTS	GF	GA	GD	MP	W - D - L	PTS	GF	GA	GD
Championship
1	Linfield FC	38	26 -7-5	85	-	77	27	50	19	13 -4-2	43	44	17	27	19	13 -3-3	42	33	10	23
2	Ballymena United FC	38	23 -6-9	75	-	80	50	30	20	13 -3-4	42	43	25	18	18	10 -3-5	33	37	25	12
3	Glenavon FC	38	20 -10-8	70	-	74	46	28	20	11 -5-4	38	39	22	17	18	9 -5-4	32	35	24	11
4	Crusaders FC	38	21 -5-12	68	-	71	52	19	16	11 -2-3	35	33	20	13	22	10 -3-9	33	38	32	6
5	Cliftonville	38	19 -4-15	61	-	70	66	4	20	14 -3-3	45	44	24	20	18	5 -1-12	16	26	42	-16
6	Coleraine FC	38	15 -11-12	56	-	59	55	4	18	7 -6-5	27	27	24	3	20	8 -5-7	29	32	31	1
Relegation
1	Glentoran FC	38	13 -10-15	49	-	58	53	5	18	7 -4-7	25	31	25	6	20	6 -6-8	24	27	28	-1
2	Institute FC	38	13 -5-20	44	-	50	72	-22	19	8 -2-9	26	27	33	-6	19	5 -3-11	18	23	39	-16
3	Dungannon Swifts FC	38	11 -9-18	42	-	44	65	-21	19	8 -4-7	28	23	30	-7	19	3 -5-11	14	21	35	-14
4	Warrenpoint Town FC	38	10 -9-19	39	-	51	79	-28	20	5 -4-11	19	28	47	-19	18	5 -5-8	20	23	32	-9
5	Ards FC	38	6 -9-23	27	-	31	63	-32	19	4 -5-10	17	19	27	-8	19	2 -4-13	10	12	36	-24
6	Newry City AFC	38	6 -5-27	23	-	31	68	-37	20	4 -3-13	15	15	29	-14	18	2 -2-14	8	16	39	-23
UEFACL UEFAEL Playoffs UEFAEL UEFAEL (Irish Cup Winner) Relegation Playoffs Relegation

1st Stage

		League							Home						Road
POS		MP	W - D - L	PTS	CPTS	GF	GA	GD	MP	W - D - L	PTS	GF	GA	GD	MP	W - D - L	PTS	GF	GA	GD
1	Linfield FC	33	24 -5-4	77	-	70	21	49	16	12 -3-1	39	39	12	27	17	12 -2-3	38	31	9	22
2	Ballymena United FC	33	21 -5-7	68	-	74	42	32	16	11 -3-2	36	38	18	20	17	10 -2-5	32	36	24	12
3	Crusaders FC	33	20 -4-9	64	-	65	44	21	16	11 -2-3	35	33	20	13	17	9 -2-6	29	32	24	8
4	Glenavon FC	33	17 -9-7	60	-	60	40	20	17	9 -4-4	31	32	20	12	16	8 -5-3	29	28	20	8
5	Cliftonville	32	16 -3-13	51	-	60	53	7	16	11 -2-3	35	35	20	15	16	5 -1-10	16	25	33	-8
6	Coleraine FC	33	14 -9-10	51	-	51	46	5	16	6 -5-5	23	22	21	1	17	8 -4-5	28	29	25	4
7	Glentoran FC	32	10 -8-14	38	-	48	47	1	16	6 -3-7	21	27	23	4	16	4 -5-7	17	21	24	-3
8	Institute FC	33	11 -5-17	38	-	45	65	-20	16	6 -2-8	20	23	30	-7	17	5 -3-9	18	22	35	-13
9	Dungannon Swifts FC	33	9 -9-15	36	-	37	56	-19	17	7 -4-6	25	20	27	-7	16	2 -5-9	11	17	29	-12
10	Warrenpoint Town FC	33	9 -7-17	34	-	40	67	-27	17	4 -3-10	15	20	39	-19	16	5 -4-7	19	20	28	-8
11	Ards FC	33	4 -7-22	19	-	27	58	-31	17	3 -4-10	13	17	26	-9	16	1 -3-12	6	10	32	-22
12	Newry City AFC	33	4 -5-24	17	-	23	61	-38	17	3 -3-11	12	12	26	-14	16	1 -2-13	5	11	35	-24
Championship Group Relegation Group