Competition | Soccer-tainment

Sports Direct Premiership

FIFA Region

UEFA

Season

2025-2026

Location

Northern Ireland

Abbreviation

NIR1

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map of participating teams

Summary

The NIFL Premiership (NIR1), or Sports Direct Premiership, is the top division in Northern Ireland's football system. At the end of the 2025-2026 NIR1 season, the NIR1 teams listed below qualify for the following non-league play:

2026-2027 UEFA Champions League - 1st Qualifying Round:
- 1st place 2025-2026 NIR1 Championhsip Group team
2026-2027 UEFA Europa Conference League - 1st Qualifying Round:
- 2nd place 2025-2026 NIR1 team
- 2025-2026 NIR1 UEFA Europa Conference League Playoffs winner

The winner of the 2025-2026 Irish Football Association Challenge Cup (Irish Cup), typically a NIR1 team, also receives a berth in the 1st Qualifying Round of the 2026-2027 UEFA Europa Conference League.

Leagues Pyramid - Northern Ireland

Abbrev	League	# of Teams
NIR1	Sports Direct Premiership	12
NIR2	NIFL Championship	12
NIR3	NIFL Premier Intermediate League	12

Competition Structure

Season			# of Teams
Regular 9 Aug 2025 - 21 Mar 2026	Champ/Releg Rounds 24 Mar 2026 - 29 May 2026	UEFAECL Playoffs 1 Jun 2026 - 15 Jun 2026	12: NIR1 (10 minimum), NIR2 (2 maximum)

Season Format

The 2025-2026 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 (Championship Group) 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 (Relegation Group) 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 drawing.

Playoffs

At the end of the 2025-2026 NIR1 season, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place NIR1 Championship Group teams and the 1st place NIR1 Relegation Group team enter into the UEFAECL playoffs (knockout format). The winner of this playoff receives a berth in the 2026-2027 UEFA Europa Conference League - 1st Qualifying Round.

Relegation

At the end of the 2025-2026 NIR1 season, the 6th place NIR1 Relegation Group team will be relegated to the NIR2, and the 5th place NIR1 Relegation Group 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 2026-2027 NIR1, and the playoff loser plays in the 2026-2027 NIR2.

More Info...

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	Larne FC	32	21 -7-4	70	-	57	22	35	17	11 -5-1	38	32	10	22	15	10 -2-3	32	25	12	13
2	Glentoran FC	31	20 -5-6	65	-	59	29	30	14	9 -3-2	30	24	14	10	17	11 -2-4	35	35	15	20
3	Linfield FC	32	18 -8-6	62	-	56	22	34	16	13 -2-1	41	38	7	31	16	5 -6-5	21	18	15	3
4	Coleraine FC	31	19 -4-8	61	-	60	30	30	15	12 -1-2	37	36	12	24	16	7 -3-6	24	24	18	6
5	Cliftonville	30	13 -7-10	46	-	47	42	5	16	8 -3-5	27	28	23	5	14	5 -4-5	19	19	19	0
6	Dungannon Swifts FC	32	15 -1-16	46	-	40	57	-17	16	10 -0-6	30	26	24	2	16	5 -1-10	16	14	33	-19
7	Carrick Rangers FC	31	11 -7-13	40	-	46	49	-3	16	5 -4-7	19	22	27	-5	15	6 -3-6	21	24	22	2
8	Portadown FC	32	11 -2-19	35	-	36	57	-21	16	7 -1-8	22	17	25	-8	16	4 -1-11	13	19	32	-13
9	Bangor FC	32	9 -6-17	33	-	37	57	-20	17	6 -2-9	20	18	28	-10	15	3 -4-8	13	19	29	-10
10	Ballymena United FC	31	8 -6-17	30	-	35	47	-12	15	4 -5-6	17	19	21	-2	16	4 -1-11	13	16	26	-10
11	Crusaders FC	31	7 -4-20	25	-	38	69	-31	15	2 -3-10	9	18	32	-14	16	5 -1-10	16	20	37	-17
12	Glenavon FC	31	7 -1-23	22	-	30	60	-30	15	6 -0-9	18	17	23	-6	16	1 -1-14	4	13	37	-24
Championship Group Relegation Group