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The Irish Premier League - formerly the Irish Football League - or '''Irish League''', is the national Football league in Northern Ireland . It should not be confused with the Football League Of Ireland , which is the league for the Republic Of Ireland . The Irish League is the second oldest national league in the world, being formed a week earlier than the Scottish Football League . Only the Football League in England is older. The Irish League was originally formed as the football league for all of Ireland in 1890 (although most of its member clubs were in fact based in the north), but became the league for Northern Ireland in 1921 after Partition , with a separate league and association (the Football Association of the Irish Free State - now called the Football Association Of Ireland ) - being formed for the Irish Free State (now the Republic Of Ireland ) in the south and west. In its first season this league was dismissed by the Belfast Telegraph and Irish Newsletter reports of the time as the "Belfast League" because seven of the eight teams came from that city, {The league tables of the time being titled " The Belfast And District League "} and the league - and Irish football - continued to be dominated by Belfast clubs for many years. In 1892 Derry Olympic became the second non-Belfast side, but only lasted one season. In 1900 Derry Celtic joined the league and in 1901 a second Derry team, St Columb's Court was added. St Columb's Court lasted just one season, before being replaced by the league's first Dublin team, Bohemians , in 1903 . Another Dublin side, Shelbourne , was added in 1904 . In 1911 Glenavon , from the County Armagh town of Lurgan replaced Bohemians, who resigned from the league, but were re-admitted in 1912 . During 1912 there were three Dublin sides, with the addition of Tritonville, but like Derry Olympic and St Columb's Court before them, they lasted just one season. Derry Celtic also dropped out in 1913 , so that when the Irish League split due to partition in 1921 , Glenavon was the only non-Belfast team left. During the 1920s, however, the league expanded and soon achieved a good geographic spread across Northern Ireland. Nonetheless, it was not until 1952 that a team from outside Belfast ( Glenavon ) was crowned champions. Derry City , now of the League Of Ireland , once played in the Irish League also. They competed from 1929 until 1972 but were eventually forced to leave due to factors emanating from the Troubles . In 2003, the Irish Football Association took direct charge of Northern Ireland's national league with the creation of the Irish Premier League (IPL). The Irish Football League retained a separate existence, but controlling only two feeder leagues: the First Division and Second Division. In 2004, the IFA took over control of the remaining IFL divisions and renamed them as the IFA Intermediate League First Division and Second Division, effectively winding up the Irish Football League Ltd as a separate organisation after 114 years. As of 2007-08, the IPL contains sixteen teams, and the Intermediate League First Division and Second Division contain twelve teams each. The IFL's records from its days in operation as the league for all of Ireland stand as the records for Northern Ireland (as is the case for the Northern Ireland National Football Team ). Linfield are the current IPL champions. The League is currently sponsored by Carnegie . It has previously been sponsored by the Daily Mirror , Smirnoff and Fiat . FORMAT Irish Premier League Each team plays each other twice: once at home and once away, making a total of 30 fixtures per team throughout the season. The League campaign begins in September of each year and continues until the last Saturday in April. Most fixtures are played on Saturday afternoons, with occasional fixtures on Friday evenings, and some mid-week games, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. Traditionally, there are Bank Holiday afternoon fixtures on Boxing Day , New Year’s Day and Easter Tuesday . Three points are awarded for a win, and one point for a draw. The team with the most points at the end of the season wins the championship. If two teams finish level on points, Goal Difference is used to separate them. If teams are still level on goal difference, then the team with the most goals scored is placed highest. Points can be deducted for breaches of rules: for example, fielding an ineligible player. The sixteen IPL teams also compete for the . The League champions qualify to represent Northern Ireland in the following season’s Champions League , and the runners-up qualify for the UEFA Cup . If the UEFA Cup place that is reserved for the Irish Cup winners (or runners-up, in the event that the Cup winners have also won the League championship) is taken by the team in second place, then the third-placed team is entered into the UEFA Cup . Finally, one place the UEFA Intertoto Cup is reserved for Northern Ireland, and this goes to the next-highest-placed team after the Champions League and UEFA Cup places have been allocated (either third or fourth place). In order to compete in any of these European competitions, however, clubs must possess a UEFA Licence . In the event that a team qualifies without such a licence, lower-placed teams may take their place. The two highest placed teams in the IPL also qualify automatically for the next season’s all-Ireland Setanta Cup . The third- and fourth-placed teams may also qualify if either or both of the winners (or runners-up, in the event that the Cup winners have also finished first or second) of the Irish Cup and League Cup have qualified via the League. IFA Intermediate League The Intermediate League, as its name implies, has “intermediate” and not “senior” status. The First Division , therefore, is not the equivalent of the old Irish League First Division (which, along with the Irish League Premier Division, was one of two senior divisions that existed from 1995-2003). Clubs that are relegated from the IPL to the First Division lose their senior status and become eligible to compete in intermediate competitions such the Intermediate Cup , Steel & Sons Cup and Bob Radcliffe Cup . In both the First and Second Divisions, each team plays each other twice: once at home and once away, making a total of 22 fixtures per team throughout the season. Three points are awarded for a win, and one point for a draw. The twenty-four Intermediate League teams also compete for the Intermediate League Cup : they are drawn into four groups of six, the winners and runners-up of which qualify for the quarter-finals. The Intermediate League is currently sponsored by Carnegie . CLUBS IN MEMBERSHIP (2007-2008) FINAL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE 2006-07 Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points Loughgall were relegated and will be replaced in 2007-08 by Institute , who were promoted from the First Division . Glenavon defeated Bangor , runners-up in the First Division , in the play-off and will remain in the Premier League for 2007-08. Linfield qualified for the 2007-08 Champions League as champions. Glentoran qualified for the 2007-08 UEFA Cup as runners-up, along with Dungannon Swifts , who qualified through the Irish Cup as runners-up to Linfield . Cliftonville qualified for the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup as the third-placed team. Linfield , Glentoran and Cliftonville qualified for the 2008 Setanta Cup as the three highest-placed teams, along with Dungannon Swifts , who qualified via the Irish Cup . FUTURE REORGANISATION From the 2008-09 season, the League will again be re-organised. It will be renamed as the IFA Premiership, reduced to twelve teams, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007-08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria as follows. Each applicant club will be assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria: - ''Sporting'' (maximum 450 points) - based on league placings, Irish Cup, League Cup and European performances in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08; with points also awarded for running youth teams, women's teams and community development programmes. - ''Finance'' (maximum 200 points) - based on solvency, debt management and cash-flow projection. - ''Infrastructure'' (maximum 150 points) - based on stadium capacity, changing provisions, sanitary facilities, field of play, floodlighting, existence and standard of control room, first aid room, drug testing room and media facilities. - ''Business planning'' (maximum 50 points) - ''Personnel'' (maximum 100 points) - based on qualification and experience of staff - ''Attendances'' (maximum 50 points) At the end of the current season, all 41 applicant clubs will be ranked in order, with the top eleven clubs being awarded places in the IFA Premiership. The four clubs ranked 12-15 will play off against each other for the final place. A new Premier Intermediate League is also planned, presumably to replace the IFA Intermediate League. It is unclear what arrangements will be put in place for promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the leagues below. LIST OF CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS-UP Irish Football League Irish Premier League Performance by club HISTORY AND TRIVIA The first Irish League champions were Linfield , who finished first out of eight teams in the 1890-91 season. The first runners-up were Ulster . After the first season, the league expanded to ten clubs, but shrank after only one season to six clubs for the 1892-93 season. Only four clubs competed in 1892-93 and 1893-94, then six clubs for the following season, until a membership of eight was achieved for the 1901-02 season. With the exception of one season (1912-13) in which there were ten clubs, membership stayed at eight until the southern clubs resigned in 1920, anticipating the formation of the separate Football League Of Ireland in what would become the Irish Free State . (The League was suspended from 1915 to 1919 because of the First World War .) Only five and six clubs competed in 1920-21 and from 1921-23 respectively, but expansion began with the admission of four new clubs in 1923, another two in 1924 and a further two in 1927, giving a membership of fourteen from 1927 until the League was suspended in 1940 because of the Second World War . When the League resumed in 1947 it was reduced to twelve clubs, and stayed at this number until 1983 when membership was increased to fourteen. In 1990, a further two clubs brought the membership to sixteen, and the League was divided into two divisions (the Premier and First Divisions) of eight in 1995, with promotion and relegation between the two. In 1997, membership increased again to eighteen, with ten in the Premier Division and eight in the First Division. Between 1999 and 2003, the League had a record twenty clubs in membership. From 1999 to 2002, ten clubs each competed in the Premier and First Divisions and in 2002-03 there were twelve in the Premier Division and eight in the First Division. In 2003, with the creation of the Irish Premier League, the senior league was reduced to a single division of sixteen clubs, although for the first time with relegation to, and promotion from, a league below (a rump Irish Football League in 2003-04 and subsequently the IFA Intermediate League ). Four clubs – Cliftonville , Glentoran , Linfield and Lisburn Distillery – have retained membership of the League since its inception in 1890: 117 years and 106 seasons (due to eleven suspended seasons). All the League members from 1890 until the end of the 2006-07 season (Irish Football League 1890-2003, Irish Premier League 2003-07) are as follow (current members shown in bold): Before Goal Difference was introduced, if the top two teams finished the season with the same number of points, the championship title was decided by a play-off. Nine such championship play-offs took place over the years as follow: On one occasion – 1905-06 – the championship title was shared after Cliftonville and Distillery could not be separated after two play-off matches. Linfield was the first team to win the championship on goal difference in 1992-93, when they finished level on 66 points each with Crusaders , but eight goals better with a +34 goal difference to Crusaders' +26. Linfield have won the League championship the most times (42). From 1890 to 1921, when the Irish League was an all-Ireland competition, no southern clubs (from what would become the , Shelbourne and Tritonville . The highest place achieved by any of these clubs was second, by Shelbourne in 1906-07. No club from outside Belfast won the League championship until Glenavon took it to Co. Armagh in 1951-52. In 1957-58, Ards became the first team from Co. Down to win the League, and in 1964-65, Derry City were the first Co. Londonderry team to do so. Of the 106 championships, the title has only been taken out of Belfast on ten occasions. The most successful provincial club is Portadown , with four championships. A total of 12 different teams have won the championship. In the early years, in 1891-92; the North Staffordshire Regiment for three seasons from 1896-99; the Royal Scots in 1899-1900 and the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1903-04. The longest gap between Irish League championships was 77 seasons (excluding the 11 suspended seasons) between Cliftonville ’s wins in 1909-10 and 1997-98. The record for consecutive titles is six, held jointly by Belfast Celtic (1935-40 and 1947-48) and Linfield (1981-87). Historically, with relatively few league fixtures each season, the Irish League organised a number of other competitions for its members. While some of these enjoyed considerable prestige over the years, they have been phased out over recent seasons due to fixture congestion caused by the expansion of the league and reduced spectator interest. These competitions were: the City Cup ; the Gold Cup ; the Ulster Cup and the Floodlit Cup . In addition, clubs still compete in their respective regional cup competitions: the County Antrim Shield (for clubs within the jurisdiction of the North-East Ulster F.A. (also known as the County Antrim & District F.A.); the Mid-Ulster Cup (for clubs within the jurisdiction of the Mid-Ulster F.A.); and the North-West Senior Cup (for clubs within the jurisdiction of the North-Western F.A.). In 1961-62, ; City Cup , Gold Cup ; Ulster Cup ; County Antrim Shield ; and North-South Cup . Under the current system of 30 games and 3 points for a win (1990-95 and 2003 to date), the highest total points in one season was 77 (out of a possible 90) achieved by Glentoran in 1991-92. The longest system in place was 22 games and 2 points for a win (1924-27 and 1947-83). Under that system, the record for most points was 40 (out of a possible 44), achieved twice by Linfield , in 1955-56 and 1977-78. Comparing all the various systems, in terms of the ratio of points obtained per points available, the best record was Linfield ’s in 1891-92 when, over 16 games, they obtained 30 points from a possible 32 (a ration of 0.94). On the following occasions, teams have completed a league campaign unbeaten: NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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