Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Irish League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Linfield was founded as Linfield Athletic Club in March 1886 by workers at the Ulster Spinning Company's Linfield Mill. Since 1905, the club's home ground has been Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland national team and is the largest football stadium in Northern Ireland. The club's badge displays Windsor Castle, in reference to the ground's namesake.
Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club is a Northern Irish, professional association football club playing in the NIFL Premiership – the top division of the Irish 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 nine times the latest coming against Coleraine on the 4th February 2023 in a penalty shootout and the Irish League Cup six times.
Crusaders Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Premiership, highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. 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.
Belfast Celtic Football Club was a football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for political reasons, as the team and its supporters were largely Catholic and Irish nationalist and its players had been violently attacked by a mob against its main rival Linfield in December 1948. Belfast Celtic was one of four clubs that attracted the biggest crowds in the Irish League, the other three being Linfield, Distillery and Glentoran. Belfast Celtic played its last match in 1960.
Association football in Northern Ireland, widely known as football or sometimes as soccer, is one of the most popular sports in Northern Ireland. The governing body in Northern Ireland is the Irish Football Association (IFA). Gaelic football, rugby union and association football are the most popular sports in Northern Ireland.
William Lacey was an Irish footballer who played for, among others, Shelbourne, Liverpool, Everton and Linfield. Lacey was a dual international and also played for both Ireland teams – the IFA XI and the FAI XI.
Valentine Harris, commonly referred to as Val Harris, was an Irish footballer who played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team and soccer for, among others Shelbourne, Everton and Ireland. Harris was regarded as one of the finest soccer players of his generation and in 1906 became the first Shelbourne player capped by Ireland. He still remains the club's most capped player. In 1913 he captained the first Ireland team to beat England and in 1914 he was a member of the Ireland team that won the British Home Championship. Harris has been described as an extremely hard player in the mode of Kevin Moran or Paul McGrath and like his Shelbourne, Everton and Ireland teammate, Bill Lacey, he was also very versatile, covering just about every outfield position during his career.
The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel.
Louis Bookman was an Irish sportsman of Lithuanian Jewish origin who represented Ireland in both football and cricket. Born the son of a rabbi in Lithuania, he arrived in Ireland in 1895 when his family emigrated to escape antisemitism; his family subsequently adopted the name Bookman.
Robert George Milne was a footballer who played for the Gordon Highlanders, Linfield and Ireland during the 1890s and early 1900s. Born in Scotland, Milne was stationed in Ireland with the Gordon Highlanders and played seven games for the regimental football team as they won the Irish Cup in 1890. He subsequently signed for Linfield and played 43 games and scored 19 goals for the club in the same competition and winning a total of 39 honours over 20 years.
The 1906–07 Irish League was the 17th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Irish football.
The 1908–09 Irish League was the 19th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Irish football.
The 1909–10 Irish League was the 20th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Irish football.
The 1914–15 Irish League was the 25th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Irish football.
The Big Two derby, also referred to simply as the Big Two or Bel Classico, is the name given to the Northern Irish association football derby between Belfast clubs, Linfield and Glentoran. The derby is also sometimes referred to as the Belfast derby. They are the two most successful and most supported clubs in Northern Irish Football. They traditionally face each other on Boxing Day each year which usually attracts the largest Irish Premiership attendance of the season. They regularly play each other in the league, and have contested more cup finals together than any other two clubs. They also make up two of the three clubs that have competed in every season of the Irish League's top flight since its inception in 1890 – neither club ever suffering relegation.
This page details football records in the Northern Ireland.
The 2013–14 NIFL Premiership was the 6th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 113th season of Irish league football overall, and the 1st season of the league operating as part of the newly-created Northern Ireland Football League.
The Northern Ireland Football League, known as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the league in its current format created in 2013 to assume independent collective management of the top three levels of the Northern Ireland football league system; namely the Premiership, Championship and Premier Intermediate League.
The Irish Intermediate League was a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, which also included reserve sides of senior teams. The league ran from 1915 until 1954.
