Northern Ireland - 2017/18 NIFL Championship

The Northern Ireland Football League Championship, known as the NIFL Bluefin Sport Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second division of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland.

It was founded in 2008 as the Premier Intermediate League for members of the previous IFA Intermediate League that met the new stricter membership criteria, though was marketed as the IFA Championship. In 2009, it was extended to two divisions: Championship 1 and Championship 2 with promotion and relegation between the two. In 2013, the Championship and IFA Premiership were replaced by a single Northern Ireland Football League, independent of the Irish Football Association (IFA).

Under reforms agreed by the NIFL clubs in 2014, from 2016-17, Championship 1 acquired senior status, continuing as the NIFL Championship, while Championship 2 continued as the Premier Intermediate League, retaining its intermediate status

The 2017–18 NIFL Championship is the second season of the second-tier Irish League since gaining senior status

The 2017–18 NIFL Championship will consist of 12 teams. Warrenpoint Town were champions in the previous season and were promoted to the 2017–18 NIFL Premiership. The winners of the promotion pre-play-off, second-placed finishers Institute were defeated by Carrick Rangers in the Premiership play-off, therefore failing to achieve promotion.

The bottom team from the previous season, Annagh United was relegated to the third-tier NIFL Premier Intermediate League. They were replaced by Limavady United, winners of the Premier Intermediate League. In addition, second from bottom team from the previous season, Armagh City were relegated and replaced by third-tier runners-up Newry City A.F.C., against whom they lost a two-legged play-off.

Limavady United

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home-and-away).

During matches 23–32 each team played every other team in their half of the table twice (home-and-away).

Institute celebrate winning the Bluefin Sport Championship (

NIFL Premiership play-offs

The second and third-placed teams from the Championship, will take part in the Premiership pre-play-off. The winners will then play the second-bottom-placed team in the NIFL Premiership in the play-off.

NIFL Championship play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Championship will play the runners-up from the 2017–18 Premier Intermediate League over two legs for one spot in the NIFL Championship.

Source: https://www.nifootballleague.com

             https://twitter.com/OfficialNIFL

Northern Ireland - 2017/18 NIFL Premiership

The Northern Ireland Football League (commonly abbreviated to NIFL), also known as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. It was formed in 2013 to assume independent collective management of the top three levels of the Northern Ireland football league system; namely the Premiership, Championship and NIFL Premier Intermediate League.

The 2017–18 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the 117th season of the Irish League overall and the fifth as the Northern Ireland Football League. The season began on 11 August 2017 and is scheduled to conclude in May 2018. 

The winner qualifies for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League while the runner-up along with potentially the third-placed team and the play-off winners will qualify for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League.

Twelve teams will compete in the 2017–18 NIFL Premiership. Portadown were relegated after finishing bottom of the 2016–17 NIFL Premiership and were replaced by Warrenpoint Town as the winners of the 2016–17 NIFL Championship.

Carrick Rangers finished second from bottom but retained their Premiership place after winning the promotion-relegation play-off against NIFL Championship promotion play-off winners Institute 5–2 on aggregate.

Linfield are the defending champions from the previous season.

Format
During matches 1–22 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).
During matches 23–33 each team will play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
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.

Crusaders win title

Play-offs

UEFA Europa League play-offs

Teams finishing fourth to seventh will take part in Europa League play-offs to decide one team who will qualify for next season's Europa League first qualifying round.

NIFL Premiership play-offs

Pre-play-off

The runners-up and third-placed teams from the Championship will take part (over two legs) in the Championship promotion pre-play-off.

Play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Premiership will play the winners of the pre-play-off over two legs for one spot in the 2018–19 NIFL Premiership.

Source: https://www.nifootballleague.com/
             http://www.itv.com

Northern Ireland - 2014/15 NIFL Championship 1

The NIFL Championship 1 is a national football league in Northern Ireland consisting. It occupies level two in the Northern Ireland football league system – below the NIFL Premiership, which is Northern Ireland's highest national league.

2014/15 Championship 1 Teams:

• Ards
• Armagh City
• Ballyclare Comrades
• Bangor
• Carrick Rangers
• Dergview
• Donegal Celtic
• Dundela
• Harland & Wolff Welders
• Knockbreda
• Larne
• Lisburn Distillery
• Loughgall
• PSNI

Source: http://www.nifootballleague.com

Northern Ireland - NIFL Premiership 2014/15

The NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is a national association football league in Northern Ireland that operates as the highest division of the league system. It was formerly called the IFA Premiership, Irish Premier League, and before that the Irish Football League, and is still known in popular parlance simply as the Irish League. Although the current league format was established in 2008, the league was originally formed in 1890. Historically the league for the entire island of Ireland, it became Northern Ireland's national league after the partition of Ireland in 1921. Clubs in the league are semi-professional, and are known locally as senior clubs. 

The League is operated by the Northern Ireland Football League, who took over from the Irish Football Association for the start of the 2013–14 season. The NI Football League is a private company that has 42 member clubs from the Premiership and Championships 1 & 2, who are each shareholders.

The 2014–15 NIFL Premiership is the seventh season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 114th season of Irish league football overall, and the second season of the league under the control of the Northern Ireland Football League, who took over from the Irish Football Association (IFA) in 2013. The season began on 9 August 2014, and will conclude with the final round of fixtures on 25 April 2015.

Cliftonville are the defending champions, after they retained the title for the first time in the club's history the previous season - their fourth outright league title and fifth overall.

^{Source:  Northern Ireland Football League}