2020–21 NIFL Premiership
The 2020–21 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is 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 ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland meant that the season was delayed by approximately two months. The season commenced on 16 October 2020, and is scheduled to conclude on 22 May 2021. The fixtures were released on 19 September 2020.[1]
| Season | 2020–21 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 October 2020 – 22 May 2021 |
| Relegated | N/A |
| Matches played | 91 |
| Goals scored | 267 (2.93 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Andrew Waterworth (Linfield) (11 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Glentoran 6–0 Carrick Rangers (12 December 2020) Linfield 6–0 Warrenpoint Town (23 January 2021) |
| Biggest away win | Cliftonville 0–4 Ballymena Utd (24 November 2020) Dungannon Swifts 1–5 Ballymena Utd (12 December 2020) |
| Highest scoring | Glenavon 4–4 Coleraine (7 November 2020) |
← 2019–20 2021–22 →
All statistics correct as of 6 February 2021. | |
Linfield are the two-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous two seasons - the 2019–20 season seeing them win a world record-equalling 54th league title. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 season had been curtailed after 31 of the 38 rounds of fixtures had been completed. NIFL ultimately decided that the final league standings would be decided by a points per game average. Ultimately, this was academic since every team had played 31 games, meaning it resulted in no changes to the final standings.[2] This meant Linfield equalled the world record for the most top flight league titles won by any club, drawing level on 54 titles with 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, and will be joined by the 2020–21 Irish Cup winners.
On 2 February 2021, it was announced that there would be no relegation from the Premiership this season, after a majority of NIFL Championship clubs voted to cancel the 2020–21 season. The second tier had not been granted elite sporting status by the government which was required in order to play matches during the pandemic lockdown, with Championship clubs not having played any league fixtures since the 2019–20 season had been suspended in March 2020.[3]
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.[2] 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‡[4][5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,600 (all seated) |
| Carrick Rangers | Loughshore Hotel Arena | Carrickfergus | 2,500 (250 seated) |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 2,530 (all seated) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 3,500 (1,106 seated) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,383 (all seated) |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 2,000 (300 seated) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 4,160 (3,200 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 | Linfield | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 43 | 19 | +24 | 37 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Larne | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 14 | +14 | 32 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2] |
| 3 | Crusaders | 17 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 34 | 20 | +14 | 30 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[lower-alpha 3] |
| 4 | Coleraine | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 27 | |
| 5 | Ballymena United | 15 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 22 | 16 | +6 | 23 | |
| 6 | Cliftonville | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 25 | 23 | +2 | 22 | |
| 7 | Glentoran | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 21 | |
| 8 | Glenavon | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 24 | −3 | 17 | |
| 9 | Warrenpoint Town | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 25 | −11 | 16 | |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 15 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 32 | −23 | 11 | |
| 11 | Portadown | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 32 | −18 | 10 | |
| 12 | Carrick Rangers | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 29 | −20 | 7 |
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[6]
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.
Top goalscorers
- As of 2 February 2021
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[7] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Andrew Waterworth |
Linfield | 11 |
| 2 | Shayne Lavery |
Linfield | 8 |
| Robbie McDaid |
Glentoran | 8 | |
| 4 | Ben Doherty |
Coleraine | 7 |
| Jay Donnelly |
Glentoran | 7 | |
| David McDaid |
Larne | 7 | |
| Paul McElroy |
Ballymena United | 7 | |
| 8 | Paul Heatley |
Crusaders | 6 |
| Jordan Owens |
Crusaders | 6 | |
| Jordan Stewart |
Linfield | 6 |
References
- "Irish Premiership: Linfield host Carrick Rangers on opening day as Irish League returns on 17 October". BBC. 19 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
- "Irish Premiership: Linfield officially crowned 2019-20 league champions". BBC. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- "NIFL Championship: 2020/2021 season declared null and void after clubs vote". BBC. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- "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.
- "NIFL Premiership Top Scorers". SportsMole.co.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2020.