2018–19 NIFL Premiership

NIFL Premiership
Season 2018–19
Dates 5 August 2018 – May 2019
2019–20 →
All statistics correct as of 5 August 2018.

The 2018–19 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the 118th season of the Irish League overall and the sixth as the Northern Ireland Football League. The season began on 4 August 2018 and will conclude in May 2019.

Crusaders are the defending champions from the previous season.[1]

The winner qualifies for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League while the runner-up along with potentially the third-placed team and the play-off winners will qualify for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.

Teams

Twelve teams will compete in the 2018–19 NIFL Premiership. Ballinamallard United were relegated after finishing bottom of the 2017–18 NIFL Premiership and were replaced by Institute as the winners of the 2017–18 NIFL Championship.

Carrick Rangers finished second from bottom and lost their Premiership place after losing the promotion-relegation play-off against NIFL Championship promotion play-off winners Newry City 6–3 on aggregate.

Stadia and locations

Locations of the Belfast-based 2018–19 NIFL Premiership teams
Club Stadium Location Capacity‡[2][3]
ArdsClandeboye ParkBangor1,895 (500 seated)
Ballymena UnitedThe ShowgroundsBallymena3,050 (2,280 seated)
CliftonvilleSolitudeBelfast2,530 (all seated)
ColeraineThe ShowgroundsColeraine2,496 (1,106 seated)
CrusadersSeaviewBelfast3,383 (all seated)
Dungannon SwiftsStangmore ParkDungannon5,000 (300 seated)
GlenavonMourneview ParkLurgan4,160 (4,000 seated)
GlentoranThe OvalBelfast6,054 (4,989 seated)
InstituteBrandywell StadiumDerry7,700 (2,900 seated)
LinfieldWindsor ParkBelfast18,167 (all seated)
Newry CityThe ShowgroundsNewry2,275 (1,080 seated)
Warrenpoint TownMilltownWarrenpoint1,280 (150 seated)

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Linfield 11 8 3 0 21 3 +18 27 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Glenavon 10 8 1 1 26 10 +16 25 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3 Crusaders 11 6 1 4 23 19 +4 19
4 Ballymena United 10 5 2 3 22 16 +6 17 Qualification for the Europa League play-offs[lower-alpha 2]
5 Coleraine 10 3 6 1 16 12 +4 15
6 Glentoran 10 4 3 3 15 13 +2 15
7 Cliftonville 10 4 2 4 17 14 +3 14
8 Institute 11 3 2 6 10 20 −10 11
9 Warrenpoint Town 11 3 2 6 11 25 −14 11
10 Newry City 11 2 2 7 8 21 −13 8
11 Ards 11 1 3 7 8 15 −7 6 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 Dungannon Swifts 10 1 3 6 7 16 −9 6 Relegation to the NIFL Championship
Updated to match(es) played on 13 October 2018. Source: NIFL Premiership, 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) Play-off (only by decision of IFA)[4]
Notes:
  1. ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
  2. ↑ Teams play for one spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Home \ Away ARD BYM CLF COL CRU DUN GLA GLT INS LIN NEW WPT
Ards — 1–2 – 0–0 – – 0–2 0–2 0–1 – 4–0 –
Ballymena United – — – – – – – – – – 3–0 –
Cliftonville 3–1 3–2 — 1–2 – – – – 3–0 1–1 – –
Coleraine – 2–2 – — – – 1–4 – 2–2 0–0 – 3–0
Crusaders 4–2 2–2 3–2 0–3 — – – 3–0 – 0–2 1–0 –
Dungannon Swifts 0–0 0–2 1–1 – 3–2 — – – – – – 0–2
Glenavon – 4–0 – – 3–2 2–1 — 1–1 – 0–1 – –
Glentoran – – 1–2 2–2 – 2–1 – — 2–1 0–1 4–1 –
Institute – 1–2 – – 1–4 0–0 1–4 – — – 1–0 2–0
Linfield 0–0 2–1 – – – 3–0 – – 3–0 — 3–1 –
Newry City – – 1–0 1–1 – 2–1 1–2 – – – — 1–1
Warrenpoint Town 1–0 1–6 2–1 – 1–2 – 2–4 1–1 – 0–5 – —
Updated to match(es) played on 13 October 2018. Source: NIFL Premiership
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

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 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 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.

NIFL Premiership play-offs

Pre-play-off

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

Play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Premiership will play the winner of the pre-play-off over two legs for one spot in the 2019–20 NIFL Premiership.

Top goalscorers

As of 13 October 2018[5]
Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Northern Ireland Joe Gormley Cliftonville 11
2 Northern Ireland Stephen Murray Glenavon 9
3 Northern Ireland Ross Clarke Crusaders 5
Northern Ireland Joel Cooper Linfield
Northern Ireland Michael McCrudden Institute
6 Northern Ireland Curtis Allen Glentoran 4
Northern Ireland Aaron Burns Coleraine
Northern Ireland Cathair Friel Ballymena United
Northern Ireland Andrew Mitchell Glenavon
Northern Ireland Ciaran O'Connor Warrenpoint Town
Northern Ireland Michael O'Connor Linfield
Northern Ireland Rory Patterson Crusaders

References

  1. ↑ "Irish Premiership:Crusaders are crowned champions". BBC. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  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. ↑ "Premiership 2018/2019 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  5. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/irish-premiership/top-scorers
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