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This page details football records in the Northern Ireland.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2020) |
This page details football records in the Northern Ireland.
The overall top flight League table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the 14 completed seasons of the top flight in its current format - namely the IFA/NIFL Premiership since its inception in the 2008–09 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2022–23 season. Numbers in bold are the record numbers in each column.
| Rank | Club | Seasons completed | Matches played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored | Goals conceded | Goal difference | Total points | Titles | Runners-up | Avg Pts/season | Best finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linfield | 14 | 525 | 330 | 101 | 94 | 1,071 | 480 | +591 | 1,091 | 8 | 4 | 77.93 | 1st |
| 2 | Crusaders | 14 | 525 | 300 | 106 | 119 | 1,027 | 602 | +425 | 1,006 | 3 | 3 | 71.86 | 1st |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 14 | 525 | 275 | 107 | 143 | 937 | 639 | +298 | 932 | 2 | 2 | 66.57 | 1st |
| 4 | Glentoran | 14 | 525 | 238 | 127 | 160 | 829 | 634 | +195 | 841 | 1 | 0 | 60.07 | 1st |
| 5 | Coleraine | 14 | 525 | 233 | 129 | 163 | 797 | 652 | +145 | 828 | 0 | 3 | 59.14 | 2nd |
| 6 | Glenavon | 14 | 525 | 204 | 121 | 200 | 895 | 845 | +50 | 733 | 0 | 0 | 52.36 | 3rd |
| 7 | Ballymena United | 14 | 525 | 195 | 105 | 225 | 778 | 858 | –80 | 690 | 0 | 1 | 49.29 | 2nd |
| 8 | Dungannon Swifts | 14 | 525 | 148 | 119 | 258 | 634 | 930 | –296 | 563 | 0 | 0 | 40.21 | 5th |
| 9 | Portadown | 10 | 380 | 135 | 74 | 171 | 538 | 616 | –78 | 479 | 0 | 1 | 47.90 | 2nd |
| 10 | Warrenpoint Town | 8 | 297 | 63 | 55 | 179 | 340 | 624 | –284 | 244 | 0 | 0 | 30.50 | 10th |
| 11 | Ballinamallard United | 6 | 228 | 59 | 46 | 123 | 246 | 404 | –158 | 223 | 0 | 0 | 37.17 | 5th |
| 12 | Carrick Rangers | 7 | 259 | 50 | 50 | 159 | 265 | 522 | –257 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 | 8th |
| 13 | Lisburn Distillery | 5 | 190 | 52 | 38 | 100 | 233 | 357 | –124 | 194 | 0 | 0 | 38.80 | 4th |
| 14 | Larne | 3 | 107 | 51 | 29 | 27 | 184 | 109 | +75 | 182 | 0 | 0 | 60.67 | 4th |
| 15 | Institute | 5 | 183 | 38 | 45 | 100 | 192 | 345 | –153 | 159 | 0 | 0 | 31.80 | 7th |
| 16 | Ards | 4 | 152 | 37 | 27 | 88 | 178 | 290 | –112 | 138 | 0 | 0 | 34.50 | 8th |
| 17 | Newry City | 3 | 114 | 27 | 31 | 56 | 122 | 185 | –63 | 112 | 0 | 0 | 37.33 | 8th |
| 18 | Donegal Celtic | 3 | 114 | 26 | 22 | 66 | 131 | 249 | –118 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 | 8th |
| 19 | Bangor | 1 | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 42 | 67 | –25 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 36.00 | 11th |
| 20 | Newry City AFC | 1 | 38 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 31 | 68 | –37 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 23.00 | 12th |
League or status:
| 2022–23 NIFL Premiership | |
| 2022–23 NIFL Championship | |
| 2022–23 NIFL Premier Intermediate League | |
| Non-League | |
| Dissolved |
| Team | Domestic | All Ireland | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish League | Irish Cup | League Cup | City Cup | Gold Cup | Ulster Cup | Floodlit Cup | Others [note 1] | Regional cups [note 2] | [note 3] | ||
| Linfield | 56 | 44 | 10 | 24 | 33 | 15 | 2 | 301⁄2 | 44 | 4 | 2621⁄2 |
| Glentoran | 23 | 23 | 7 | 18 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 135 |
| Glenavon | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 29 | 1 | 58 |
| Belfast Celtic | 14 | 8 | - | 11 | 6 | - | - | 10 | 8 | 1⁄2 | 571⁄2 |
| Lisburn Distillery | 51⁄2 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | - | 41⁄2 | 14 | 1⁄2 | 491⁄2 |
| Cliftonville | 41⁄2 | 8 | 6 | - | 3 | - | 1 | 13 | 11 | - | 461⁄2 |
| Coleraine | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | - | 1 | 21 | 2 | 46 |
| Portadown | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | 6 | 2 | - | 4 | 21 | 1 | 43 |
| Crusaders | 7 | 5 | 2 | - | 2 | 3 | - | 1 | 8 | 1 | 29 |
| Derry City | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 16 | - | 24 |
| Ballymena United | - | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 [note 4] | - | - | 6 | - | 17 |
| Newry City | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | - | 15 |
| Dungannon Swifts | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 10 | - | 12 |
| Ards | 1 | 3 | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Bangor | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 1 | 4 | - | 11 |
| Limavady United | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | - | 10 |
| Derry Celtic | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | - | 8 |
| Institute | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | - | 8 |
| Omagh Town | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | 6 |
| Queen's Island [II] | 1 | 1 | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 6 |
| Banbridge Town | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | 5 |
| Shelbourne | - | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 5 |
| Larne | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | 4 |
| Black Watch | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 |
| Carrick Rangers | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 |
| Loughgall | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Tobermore United | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Armagh City | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Ballyclare Comrades | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Ballymena | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Bohemians | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Dundela | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Gordon Highlanders | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Moyola Park | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| North Staffordshire Regiment | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Oldpark | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Queen's Island [I] | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Ulster | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Willowfield | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Warrenpoint Town | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
Linfield Football Club is a professional football club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club was founded in 1886 as Linfield Athletic Club and in 1905 moved into their current home of Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland national team. The club's badge displays Windsor Castle, in reference to the ground's namesake.
Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is a Northern Irish, semi-professional association football club playing in the NIFL Premiership – the top division of the Northern Ireland Football League. The club was founded in September 1879 by John McAlery in the suburb of Cliftonville in north Belfast. It is the oldest football club in Ireland and celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2019. Since 1890, the club has played home matches at Solitude. Cliftonville contests the North Belfast derby with nearby rivals Crusaders, and also has local rivalries with Linfield and Glentoran. The club has won the Irish League Premiership five times outright including one shared title, the Irish Cup eight times and the Irish League Cup six times.
Crusaders Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club, playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, is based in north Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview.
The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Football League Cup, also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League. It is the third-most prestigious competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. It should not be confused with the Irish League Floodlit Cup which ran from 1987–88 to 1997–98. Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup does not have a berth for UEFA Europa Conference League qualification. The cup has been operated by the Northern Ireland Football League since the 2013–14 season when it took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA), after which the cup was renamed to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.
Mark Dickson is a former semi-professional footballer from Northern Ireland. He began his football career as a trainee with Northampton Town, for whom he made one first-team appearance in the Football League Trophy, before returning to his native country, where he played for Newry Town, Larne, Linfield, Crusaders and Donegal Celtic. He won the Irish League and Cup double in successive seasons with Linfield, and scored the winning goal for Crusaders in the 2008–09 Irish Cup Final.
The Irish League in season 1976–77 comprised 12 teams, and Glentoran won the championship.
The Irish League in season 1977–78 comprised 12 teams. Linfield won the championship.
The 1983–84 Irish League season was the 110th season for the top division of football in Northern Ireland. 14 teams contested the division, an increase of two on the previous season, with Carrick Rangers and Newry Town becoming the first new participants in the league since the 1972–73 season. The league title was won by Linfield for the third consecutive time.
The Irish League in season 1986–87 comprised 14 teams, and Linfield won the championship.
The Irish League in season 1992–93 comprised 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.
The Irish Premier League in season 2003–04 comprised 16 teams, and Linfield won the championship.
The North Belfast derby is the name given to football matches between Cliftonville and Crusaders who play in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The two are separated by around 1.5 miles with Cliftonville based at Solitude on Cliftonville Road and Crusaders at Seaview on the Shore Road.
The 2012–13 IFA Premiership was the fifth season of Northern Ireland's national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, and the 112th season of Irish league football overall.
The 2013–14 NIFL Premiership was the sixth season of Northern Ireland's national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 113th season of Irish league football overall, and the first season of the league operating as part of the newly-created Northern Ireland Football League. The season began on 10 August 2013 and concluded on 26 April 2014.
The 2014–15 Northern Ireland Football League Cup was the 29th edition of Northern Ireland's secondary football knock-out cup competition, and the second season of the competition under the control of the Northern Ireland Football League. It was contested by the 12 members of the NIFL Premiership and the 29 members of the NIFL Championship. The competition began on 12 August 2014 with the first round, and concluded on 24 January 2015 with the final.
The 2015–16 Irish Cup was the 136th edition of the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its introduction in 1881. The competition began on 18 August 2015 with the first round and concluded with the final at Windsor Park on 7 May 2016. The cup was sponsored by Tennent's Lager, the competition's first title sponsor since 2012.
The 2019–20 NIFL Premiership was the 12th season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 119th season of Irish league football overall, and the seventh season that the league operated as part of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fixtures were released on 26 June 2019. The season began on 9 August 2019 and was initially scheduled to conclude on 25 April 2020, with the promotion/relegation play-off scheduled to take place in the first week of May 2020. However, the season was suspended on 13 March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, with the clubs having only played 31 of the 38 rounds of fixtures. The season did not resume after the suspension, with the final games having been played on 7 March 2020.
The 2020–21 NIFL Premiership was 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 since the creation of the Northern Ireland Football League. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland at the time meant that the start of the season was delayed by approximately two months. The 38-game season commenced on 16 October 2020 and concluded on 29 May 2021, with the European play-offs then taking place on 1 and 5 June 2021. The fixtures were released on 19 September 2020.
The 2021–22 NIFL Premiership was the 14th season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 121st season of the Irish League overall, and the ninth season since the creation of the Northern Ireland Football League. The season normally began in early August, however, due to the previous season finishing a few weeks later than usual in late May 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, the start of this season was pushed back. The 38-game season commenced on 27 August 2021 and concluded on 30 April 2022, with the play-offs taking place during the first two weeks in May 2022.