2010–11 IFA Premiership

The 2010–11 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the third season since its establishment after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland, and the 110th season of Irish league football overall. The season began on 7 August 2010, and concluded on 30 April 2011.

IFA Premiership

Season	2010–11
Champions	Linfield 50th Irish title
Relegated	Newry City
UEFA Champions League	Linfield
UEFA Europa League	Crusaders Glentoran Cliftonville
Matches played	228
Goals scored	681 (2.99 per match)
Top goalscorer	Peter Thompson (23 goals)
Biggest home win	Linfield 8–1 Crusaders
Biggest away win	Lisburn Dist. 1–6 Glentoran
Highest scoring	Linfield 8–1 Crusaders Crusaders 5–4 Glenavon Crusaders 4–5 Donegal Celtic
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

Linfield were crowned champions for the second successive season, after a 4–0 win over Lisburn Distillery on 26 April 2011. This was Linfield's 50th Irish League title.[1]

The same day, Newry City were relegated to IFA Championship 1 after a 4–0 loss to Glenavon.[2]

Teams

After a two-legged play-off against 2009–10 Championship 1 runners-up Donegal Celtic, Institute were relegated to the 2010–11 IFA Championship after an aggregate 1–0 loss, with Donegal Celtic taking their place for this season's IFA Premiership.[3]

2009–10 IFA Championship 1 winners Loughgall were not eligible for promotion as they were not awarded the required domestic licence by the IFA.

Stadia and locations

Belfast

Ballymena United

Coleraine

Dungannon Swifts

Glenavon

Newry City

Portadown

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Donegal Celtic
Glentoran
Linfield
Lisburn Distillery

Location of teams in the 2010-11 IFA Premiership

Cliftonville

Crusaders

Donegal Celtic

Glentoran

Linfield

Lisburn Distillery

Location of the Belfast-based teams in the IFA Premiership 2010-11

Club	Stadium	Location	Capacity[4]
Ballymena United	The Showgrounds	Ballymena	1,418 (all seated)
Cliftonville	Solitude	Belfast	2,180 (1,878 seats)
Coleraine	The Showgrounds	Coleraine	2,496 (1,106 seats)
Crusaders	Seaview	Belfast	1,977 (663 seats)
Donegal Celtic	Donegal Celtic Park	Belfast	2,254 (988 seats)
Dungannon Swifts	Stangmore Park	Dungannon	5,000 (300 seats)
Glenavon	Mourneview Park	Lurgan	5,000 (4,000 seats)
Glentoran	The Oval	Belfast	5,056 (3,991 seats)
Linfield	Windsor Park	Belfast	12,342 (all seated)
Lisburn Distillery	New Grosvenor Stadium	Lisburn	7,000 (540 seats)
Newry City	The Showgrounds	Newry	2,275 (797 seats)
Portadown	Shamrock Park	Portadown	2,227 (all seated)

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Linfield (C)	38	26	7	5	80	29	+51	85	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Crusaders	38	23	5	10	78	59	+19	74	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3	Glentoran	38	20	6	12	63	41	+22	66	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
4	Cliftonville	38	17	7	14	60	56	+4	58
5	Portadown	38	15	5	18	49	58	−9	50
6	Lisburn Distillery	38	14	6	18	50	66	−16	48
7	Coleraine	38	17	5	16	51	50	+1	56[lower-alpha 2]
8	Dungannon Swifts	38	14	9	15	50	53	−3	51[lower-alpha 2]
9	Ballymena United	38	12	13	13	48	56	−8	49[lower-alpha 2]
10	Glenavon	38	12	9	17	60	59	+1	45
11	Donegal Celtic	38	8	8	22	55	89	−34	32
12	Newry City (R)	38	6	8	24	37	65	−28	26	Relegation to IFA Championship 1

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. Crusaders qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League as they were the highest-placed Europa League qualifier, and 2010–11 Irish Cup winners Linfield had already qualified for the Champions League.
2. After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the number of points earned during matches 34–38.

Results

Matches 1–22 During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away). Home \ Away BYM CLI COL CRU DGC DUN GLA GLT LIN LIS NEW POR Ballymena United 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–4 1–1 3–3 0–2 3–3 0–1 1–0 3–1 Cliftonville 5–0 0–2 2–1 4–2 2–0 0–2 2–1 3–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 Coleraine 1–0 3–1 0–3 4–0 0–3 0–2 1–2 0–2 0–1 2–0 1–3 Crusaders 2–1 1–3 2–0 4–5 1–1 5–4 1–0 2–1 1–2 2–1 3–1 Donegal Celtic 2–3 1–1 2–1 1–3 3–4 1–4 0–3 1–3 2–1 0–3 4–4 Dungannon Swifts 1–2 0–1 3–0 2–3 0–0 2–1 1–3 2–1 2–2 0–0 0–1 Glenavon 0–2 1–2 1–2 2–1 3–1 2–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 Glentoran 1–2 2–0 2–0 3–1 1–0 0–2 4–1 0–0 1–3 2–0 1–0 Linfield 0–0 0–0 1–0 8–1 6–2 1–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 4–0 4–0 Lisburn Distillery 1–1 1–1 0–3 2–4 1–3 4–1 2–2 1–6 0–4 2–1 2–0 Newry City 0–4 0–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 0–0 1–2 1–1 4–2 Portadown 1–3 2–1 2–0 0–2 3–0 2–2 2–2 0–1 1–2 1–0 4–2 Source: rsssf.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33 During matches 23–33 each team played every other team for the third time (either at home, or away). Home \ Away BYM CLI COL CRU DGC DUN GLA GLT LIN LIS NEW POR Ballymena United 1–1 0–3 0–3 2–3 3–1 Cliftonville 2–2 2–2 3–2 2–4 3–2 1–3 Coleraine 3–2 1–3 3–1 1–2 3–1 1–1 Crusaders 5–0 2–1 2–2 1–0 2–1 Donegal Celtic 1–1 3–3 2–0 0–0 0–2 Dungannon Swifts 1–0 1–0 3–1 2–2 0–4 1–2 Glenavon 3–1 0–2 1–2 2–2 0–1 2–1 Glentoran 0–0 4–0 0–0 2–2 1–2 0–1 Linfield 0–0 0–1 3–1 2–0 1–1 Lisburn Distillery 0–1 0–1 3–1 0–2 2–1 Newry City 1–1 0–2 2–3 0–1 3–4 2–1 Portadown 0–1 2–1 1–1 0–4 2–1 Source: rsssf.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once. As this was the fourth time that teams played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that teams had played each other twice at home and twice away.

Section A Home \ Away CLI CRU GLT LIN LIS POR Cliftonville 3–0 1–2 Crusaders 0–1 4–1 3–1 Glentoran 2–2 2–1 Linfield 1–0 3–2 1–0 Lisburn Distillery 4–3 0–4 Portadown 0–1 2–0 1–0 Source: rsssf.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Section B Home \ Away BYM COL DGC DUN GLA NEW Ballymena United 0–2 1–0 1–0 Coleraine 1–1 3–1 2–1 2–1 Donegal Celtic 3–3 1–2 Dungannon Swifts 1–0 Glenavon 3–0 1–2 Newry City 0–2 0–1 0–4 Source: rsssf.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion/relegation

The promotion/relegation play-off was not played this season, because Championship 1 runners-up Limavady United were not eligible for promotion as they did not hold a domestic licence. This meant that Newry City were automatically relegated, with Championship 1 winners Carrick Rangers replacing them in next season's Premiership.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[5]
1	Peter Thompson	Linfield	23
2	Paul McVeigh	Donegal Celtic	19
	Jordan Owens	Crusaders	19
4	Daryl Fordyce	Glentoran	17
5	Stuart Dallas	Crusaders	16
6	Matthew Burrows	Glentoran	15
7	Leon Knight	Coleraine	14
	Gary McCutcheon	Ballymena United	14
9	Gary Hamilton	Glenavon	13
	Ryan Henderson	Donegal Celtic	13

IFA Premiership clubs in Europe 2010–11

Main article: Northern Irish football clubs in European competitions

UEFA coefficient and ranking

For the 2010–11 UEFA competitions, the associations were allocated places according to their 2009 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2004–05 to 2008–09. In the 2009 rankings used for this season's European competitions, Northern Ireland's coefficient points total was 2.165. After earning a score of 0.333 during the 2008–09 European campaign, the league was ranked by UEFA as the 47th best league in Europe out of 53 - falling one place from 46th the previous season. This season Northern Ireland earned 1.125 points, which was added to the points total for the 2011 rankings used in 2012–13 UEFA competitions.

• 45 Armenia 2.999
• 46 Wales 2.331
• 47 Northern Ireland 2.165
• 48 Faroe Islands 2.165
• 49 Luxembourg 1.332
  • Full list

UEFA Champions League

After winning the league last season, Linfield were the league's sole representatives in the UEFA Champions League. They entered in the second qualifying round, and were drawn against Norwegian side Rosenborg. Despite being massive underdogs, Linfield recorded an unexpected 0–0 draw in the first leg at Windsor Park. However they were beaten 2–0 in the return leg in Norway, and exited the competition.

UEFA Europa League

Portadown earned a place in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League because Irish Cup winners Linfield had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League as league champions. They entered the first qualifying round with 2009–10's third placed team, Glentoran. Portadown were drawn with Latvian side Skonto Riga, who were knocked out by League of Ireland side Derry City in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. Glentoran were handed a tie with Icelandic club KR Reykjavik. The first legs gave mixed results, with Portadown getting a creditable 1–1 draw at home while Glentoran being defeated 3–0 in Iceland. Glentoran were knocked out in the second leg despite a battling 2–2 draw. Portadown got one of the best European results in the league's recent history when they beat Skonto Riga 1–0 in Latvia, thus putting them through 2–1.

After beating Skonto Riga in the last round, Portadown faced Qarabag from Azerbaijan. They almost produced another shock in the first leg before ending up losing 2–1. In the second leg they earned a creditable 1–1 draw, but exited the competition 3–2 on aggregate. As second-placed finishers in last season's domestic league, Cliftonville entered in the second qualifying round, where they played HNK Cibalia from Croatia. In the first leg in Belfast they came out on top following a 1–0 win. In the second leg they held out for a 0–0 draw, going through 1–0 on aggregate.

In the third qualifying round, Cliftonville were drawn against Bulgarian giants CSKA Sofia. In the first leg in Sofia, Cliftonville were defeated 3–0, and were then defeated 2–1 in the second leg back in Belfast, losing the tie 5–1 on aggregate.

References

1. "Lisburn Distillery 0-4 Linfield". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
2. "Newry City 0-4 Glenavon". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
3. "Institute 0–1 Donegal Celtic". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
4. "Written Answers Booklet 23.10.10". niassembly.gov.uk. 23 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
5. "IFA PREMIERSHIP - TOP GOAL SCORERS". ifapremiership.com. IFA Premiership. Retrieved 26 April 2011.