2023–24 NIFL Premiership

NIFL Premiership
Season2023–24
Dates4 Aug 2023 – 27 Apr 2024
ChampionsLarne
RelegatedNewry City
UEFA Champions LeagueLarne
UEFA Conference LeagueCliftonville
Crusaders
Linfield

The 2023–24 NIFL Premiership (known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of the NIFL Premiership (the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland), the 123rd season of Irish League football overall, and the 11th season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League. The 38-game season commenced on 4 August 2023 and concluded on 27 April 2024.

The champions (Larne, their second consecutive title win) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.[1] The 2023–24 Irish Cup winners (Cliftonville) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League second qualifying round, with the second-placed team (Linfield) and Conference League play-off winners (Crusaders) qualifying for the first qualifying round. The eleventh-placed team (Ballymena United) qualified for the NIFL Premiership play-off, winning and retaining their place in the league. The bottom-placed team (Newry City) were relegated to the 2024–25 NIFL Championship.

Teams

The league consisted of twelve teams; eleven teams remaining from the previous season, and one team promoted from the NIFL Championship. Loughgall were promoted as champions of the 2022–23 NIFL Championship (returning to the top-flight for the first time since 2007), replacing the 2022–23 NIFL Premiership bottom-placed team Portadown. Larne entered the season as defending champions, having won their first league title in the previous season.

Stadia and locations

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Locations of the 2023–24 NIFL Premiership teams
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Locations of the Belfast-based 2023–24 NIFL Premiership teams
Club Stadium Location Capacity[2][3]
Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 4,100 (all seated)
Carrick Rangers Loughshore Hotel Arena Carrickfergus 2,100 (380 seated)
Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 3,054 (all seated)
Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 4,843 (1,607 seated)
Crusaders Seaview Belfast 3,208 (all seated)
Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 2,000 (300 seated)
Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 3,302 (all seated)
Glentoran The Oval Belfast 6,054 (3,991 seated)
Larne Inver Park Larne 2,732 (1,632 seated)
Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 18,434 (all seated)
Loughgall Lakeview Park Loughgall 1,300
Newry City The Showgrounds Newry 2,275 (1,080 seated)

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Larne (C) 38 27 9 2 85 21 +64 90 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Linfield 38 26 7 5 82 40 +42 85 Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
3 Cliftonville 38 23 6 9 80 43 +37 75 Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round[b]
4 Crusaders (O) 38 19 7 12 61 43 +18 64 Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round play-off
5 Glentoran 38 17 9 12 74 43 +31 60
6 Coleraine 38 12 10 16 47 69 −22 46
7 Carrick Rangers 38 15 5 18 54 72 −18 50 Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round play-off
8 Dungannon Swifts 38 13 8 17 64 69 −5 47
9 Loughgall 38 13 6 19 60 68 −8 45
10 Glenavon 38 11 4 23 45 70 −25 37
11 Ballymena United (O) 38 8 4 26 29 70 −41 28 Qualification for the NIFL Premiership play-off
12 Newry City (R) 38 4 5 29 26 99 −73 17 Relegation to the NIFL Championship
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
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]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league was split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
  2. ^ Cliftonville qualified for the Conference League second qualifying round by winning the 2023–24 Irish Cup.


Results

Matches 1–33

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

Home \ Away BYM CRK CLF COL CRU DUN GLA GLT LAR LIN LGL NEW BYM CRK CLF COL CRU DUN GLA GLT LAR LIN LGL NEW
Ballymena United — 0–2 0–2 3–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–0 0–1 1–3 0–2 — 0–2 — 3–1 2–4 2–4 — — 0–1 — 0–1 —
Carrick Rangers 0–1 — 0–3 2–0 0–1 2–1 1–3 2–1 1–2 1–2 2–2 0–2 — — 0–1 — — 2–1 0–2 — — 2–3 — 0–1
Cliftonville 2–0 4–0 — 5–0 3–0 5–0 3–0 2–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 3–0 — — 4–1 2–1 — 4–2 — 0–2 0–3 — —
Coleraine 2–1 1–1 1–2 — 0–4 2–3 4–1 0–0 0–0 1–3 3–2 3–1 — 0–2 — — — 1–1 1–0 — 0–0 3–0 1–3 —
Crusaders 1–0 9–0 0–3 0–2 — 2–0 2–0 1–1 0–3 0–1 1–1 1–1 — 2–0 — 1–1 — — 2–0 1–2 0–2 — — —
Dungannon Swifts 0–1 2–3 1–4 2–2 1–4 — 3–1 1–2 0–0 2–3 1–2 4–1 — — 3–1 — 2–2 — — 0–3 0–2 — — 5–0
Glenavon 1–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 1–3 1–0 — 0–1 0–4 0–2 2–0 1–3 0–1 — — — — 4–0 — 0–0 — 2–2 1–2 —
Glentoran 5–0 2–3 1–0 1–2 2–2 0–0 3–1 — 1–2 4–0 6–0 1–0 4–0 2–2 2–2 6–0 — — — — — — 0–3 8–2
Larne 3–0 4–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 4–4 4–1 2–1 — 2–0 1–0 4–0 — 2–0 — — — — 6–1 3–0 — 1–1 2–0 3–0
Linfield 4–0 3–3 2–1 2–1 2–0 4–3 4–2 2–0 1–2 — 5–1 6–1 2–0 — — — 1–0 1–2 — 2–0 — — — 6–0
Loughgall 5–2 3–4 1–4 1–2 1–2 1–2 2–2 0–1 1–0 0–2 — 3–1 — 3–3 2–3 — 0–1 2–1 — — — 1–2 — 0–0
Newry City 0–0 0–1 0–3 0–2 0–4 2–2 0–3 2–4 1–2 0–3 0–3 — 1–1 — 1–2 0–2 0–1 — 0–4 — — — — —
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 34–38

For the final five matches, the table splits into two halves, with the top six teams forming Section A and the bottom six teams forming Section B. Each team plays every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures are reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams have played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.

Section A

Home \ Away CLF COL CRU GLT LAR LIN
Cliftonville — — — 2–0 — —
Coleraine 2–2 — 0–2 2–1 — —
Crusaders 2–1 — — — — 1–2
Glentoran — — 4–0 — 1–2 0–0
Larne 8–1 5–0 0–1 — — —
Linfield 1–1 2–2 — — 1–1 —
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Section B

Home \ Away BYM CRK DUN GLA LGL NEW
Ballymena United — — — 1–0 — 4–0
Carrick Rangers 2–1 — — — 2–1 —
Dungannon Swifts 3–0 3–2 — 2–0 2–0 —
Glenavon — 1–2 — — — 3–2
Loughgall 2–3 — — 3–1 — —
Newry City — 1–3 0–2 — 1–4 —
Source: Northern Ireland Football League, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Play-offs

Conference League play-offs

Clubs placed 3rd–7th compete for the second and final place in the 2024–25 Conference League first qualifying round. The play-offs are one-off matches, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage and extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary. Since the 2023–24 Irish Cup winners finished in the top three, the 3rd-placed team qualified automatically for the Conference League and the spot was vacated.

Semi-finals

1 May 2024 Crusaders (4th) 3–1Carrick Rangers (7th)Belfast
19:45 Lecky 7', 54'
Nixon 45+1'		 Gibson 45+3' Stadium: Seaview
1 May 2024 Glentoran (5th)0–3 Coleraine (6th) Belfast
19:45 McGonigle 21', 70'
Kane 45+5'		 Stadium: The Oval

Final

6 May 2024 Crusaders (4th) 3–2Coleraine (6th)Belfast
15:00 O'Rourke 36'
Larmour 38'
Forsythe 90+1'		 McGonigle 5'
Carson 70'		 Stadium: Seaview

NIFL Premiership play-off

The eleventh-placed club (Ballymena United) faced the second-placed club from the 2023–24 NIFL Championship (Institute) in a two-legged play-off for the final place in the following season's Premiership.

First leg

30 April 2024 Institute 1–0 Ballymena United Derry
15:00 Lafferty 58' Stadium: Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Second leg

3 May 2024 Ballymena United 2–0
(2–1 agg.)		InstituteBallymena
15:00 McCullough 78'
McCurry 87'		 Stadium: Ballymena Showgrounds

Attendances

# Football club Home games Average attendance[5]
1 Linfield FC 19 3,212
2 Coleraine FC 19 2,468
3 Glentoran FC 19 2,451
4 Larne FC 19 2,013
5 Cliftonville FC 19 1,918
6 Crusaders FC 19 1,634
7 Ballymena United 19 1,296
8 Glenavon FC 19 968
9 Newry City 19 869
10 Loughgall FC 19 748
11 Carrick Rangers 19 709
12 Dungannon Swifts 19 689

References

  1. ^ "Back-to-back titles wonderful achievement - Lynch". BBC Sport. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  2. ^ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  3. ^ "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  4. ^ "NIFL Premiership Rules 2020–21" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  5. ^ https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/avenir.htm