2020–21 NIFL Premiership
The 2020–21 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) will be the 13th season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 120th season of Irish league football overall, and the eighth season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League. The start date for the season has yet to be decided. The season usually begins in August each year, but it may be delayed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
| Season | 2020–21 |
|---|---|
| Dates | TBD |
← 2019–20 2021–22 → | |
Linfield are the two-time defending champions, having lifted the previous two league titles - the 2019–20 season seeing them lift the title for a record 54th time. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous season was curtailed after 31 of the 38 rounds of fixtures had been completed. NIFL announced that the final league standings were to be decided by a points per game average. As every team had played 31 games the application of average points per game was academic, and there were no changes to the standings.[1] This meant Linfield equalled the world record for the most league titles won by any club, held by Scottish club, Rangers.
The winners will qualify for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, while the runners-up and the European play-off winners will qualify for the new third tier UEFA competition, the UEFA Europa Conference League for the first time. They will enter the first qualifying round, along with the 2020–21 Irish Cup winners.
Teams
Twelve teams are competing in the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership, eleven of which retained their Premiership status from the previous season. Last season's bottom Premiership club, Institute, were relegated to the 2020–21 NIFL Championship after two seasons in the top flight, and were replaced by Portadown, who were promoted to this season's Premiership as 2019–20 NIFL Championship winners.[1] For Portadown, this marked a return to the top flight for the first time since they were relegated in the 2016–17 season.
The promotion/relegation play-off did not take place the previous season, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stadia and locations
| Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity‡[2][3] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,050 (2,280 seated) |
| Carrick Rangers | Loughshore Hotel Arena | Carrickfergus | 4,500 (250 seated) |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 2,530 (all seated) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 2,496 (1,106 seated) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,383 (all seated) |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 5,000 (300 seated) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 4,160 (4,000 seated) |
| Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 6,054 (4,989 seated) |
| Larne | Inver Park | Larne | 2,000 (1,250 seated) |
| Linfield | Windsor Park | Belfast | 18,614 (all seated) |
| Portadown | Shamrock Park | Portadown | 3,940 (2,765 seated) |
| Warrenpoint Town | Milltown | Warrenpoint | 1,280 (150 seated) |
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballymena United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Carrick Rangers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2] |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[lower-alpha 3] |
| 4 | Coleraine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | Crusaders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | Dungannon Swifts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Glenavon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Glentoran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | Larne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | Linfield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Portadown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegation to the NIFL Championship |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots[4]
Notes:
- Teams will play each other three times (33 matches), before the league splits into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
- The 2020–21 Irish Cup winners will also qualify for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
- Clubs will compete for one place in the Europa Conference League first qualifying round.
Results
Matches 1–22
During matches 1–22 each team will play every other team twice (home and away).
Matches 23–33
During matches 23–33 each team will play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
Matches 34–38
During matches 34–38 each team will play every other team in their half of the table once. As this is the fourth time that teams play each other this season, home sides are chosen so that they will have played each other twice at home and twice away.
Play-offs
UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs
Four (or all five) of the clubs that finish in third to seventh place will compete for one place in the Europa Conference League first qualifying round. If the 2020–21 Irish Cup winners finish lower than seventh and attain a UEFA licence, all five clubs will compete, with an extra quarter-final tie taking place between the sixth and seventh-placed clubs to decide which club will join the other three clubs in the semi-finals.
NIFL Premiership play-offs
The eleventh-placed club will face the club that qualifies from the 2020–21 NIFL Championship for one place in the following season's Premiership.
References
- "Irish Premiership: Linfield officially crowned 2019-20 league champions". BBC. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- "NIFL Premiership Rules 2018–19" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 25 March 2019.