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The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team remained the national team for all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name Ireland until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team.
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.
Association football is organised on a separate basis in each of the four constituent countries that make up the United Kingdom (UK), with each having a national football association responsible for the overall management of football within their respective country. There is no United Kingdom national football team. Football has been the most popular sport in the UK since the 1860s. Rugby union, rugby league and cricket are other popular sports.
Patrick Anthony Jennings is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 119 international matches for Northern Ireland in an international career which lasted for over 22 years. During his career, Jennings played for Newry Town, Watford and in the top division with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, winning the FA Cup with both of the north London rivals. In total, Jennings made over 1,000 top level appearances, and despite being a goalkeeper he scored in the 1967 FA Charity Shield.
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.
Larne Football Club is a professional Northern Irish football club based in Larne, County Antrim that play in the NIFL Irish Premiership.
The Northern Ireland football league system is categorised into three levels: senior, intermediate and junior. Clubs attain intermediate status by fulfilling certain criteria. Senior status requires clubs to reach stricter criteria. National leagues exist at senior and intermediate level. All junior leagues and some intermediate are organised on a regional basis.
The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup, known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland. Organised by the FAI, the competition is currently sponsored by Extra.ie. It was known as the Free State Cup from 1923 to 1936. Shamrock Rovers hold the record of most wins with 25.
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 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.
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.
The NIFL Irish Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football League – the national league in Northern Ireland. The Premiership was established as the IFA Premiership in 2008 under the auspices of the Irish Football Association, before the Northern Ireland Football League was created for the start of the 2013–14 season. At the end of the season, the champion club is presented with the Gibson Cup.
Bryansburn Rangers Football Club is a Northern Irish, intermediate football club playing in Division 1B of the Northern Amateur Football League. The club are from Bangor, County Down and play their home matches at Ballywooley Park on the Crawfordsburn Road. The club was founded in 1974 and joined the Amateur League in 1984.
The Northern Ireland Football League, known as 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 2018–19 Northern Ireland Football League Cup was the 33rd edition of Northern Ireland's football knock-out cup competition for national league clubs, and the fifth edition of the competition as the Northern Ireland Football League Cup. This season's League Cup was contested by all 36 clubs of the three divisions of the Northern Ireland Football League. The competition began on 4 August 2018 with the first round, and concluded on 16 February 2019 with the final. The competition was sponsored by McLean Bookmakers.
The 2019–20 Northern Ireland Football League Cup was the 34th edition of Northern Ireland's football knock-out cup competition for national league clubs, and the sixth edition of the competition as the Northern Ireland Football League Cup. This season's League Cup was contested by 35 of the 36 clubs that started the season in the three divisions of the Northern Ireland Football League. The competition began on 10 August 2019 with the first round, and concluded on 15 February 2020 with the final. The competition was sponsored by McLean Bookmakers.
The 2019–20 Irish Cup was the 140th edition of the Irish Cup, the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its inauguration in 1881. The competition began on 17 August 2019, and concluded with the final at Windsor Park on 31 July 2020. The final was the first football match in the United Kingdom to host fans since the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom led to a pause in the season in March, with 250 fans from each team permitted at the final.
The 2021–22 Northern Ireland Football League Cup was the 35th edition of Northern Ireland's football knock-out cup competition for national league clubs, and the seventh edition of the competition as the Northern Ireland Football League Cup. The competition was contested by the 35 member clubs of the Northern Ireland Football League, commencing on 31 July 2021 with the first round and concluding with the final on 13 March 2022. The competition was sponsored by McLean Bookmakers, the title sponsors of the cup since the 2017–18 season.
The 2022–23 Irish Cup is the 143rd edition of the Irish Cup, the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its inauguration in 1881. The competition began on 13 August 2022.
