Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland)

The Women's Premiership is the top level women's football league of Northern Irish league football. The league was called the NIWFA Division League 1 until 2003 and Premier League until 2015. In 2016, it was rebranded the Women's Premiership and is run by NIFL/ Irish League since.^[1]

Women's Premiership

Founded	2004
Country	Northern Ireland
Confederation	UEFA
Divisions	1
Number of clubs	9
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Women's Championship
Domestic cup(s)	Irish Women's Cup
League cup(s)	NIFL Women's Premiership League Cup
International cup(s)	UEFA Women's Champions League
Current champions	Cliftonville (2nd title) (2024 Women's Premiership)
Most championships	Glentoran (10 titles)
TV partners	DAZN
Website	nifootballleague.com/womens-premiership
Current: 2024 Women's Premiership

Ten teams play a double round robin to crown the champion, which qualifies for a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The tenth place gets relegated to the Women's Championship 1, the ninth place plays a two-legged relegation playoff against the runner up of the Women's Championship.

History

In women's football the first league season was played out in 1977.^[2] Organised by the Northern Ireland Women's Football Association (NIWFA) the league was simply called the NIWFA Division League 1.

In 2004 the Division 1 was replaced by the Women's Premier League.

In 2016, after 40 years of administering and developing women's football locally, the league was rebranded the Women's Premiership and is run now by the Northern Ireland Football League.^[3] The main sponsor and name giver is Sports Direct.

Prior to the 2023 season, the Premiership introduced professional contracts for players, as well as games on Fridays and Sundays in addition to traditional Wednesday games.^[4] Five Premiership teams will also take part in a new all-island competition during the summer.^[5]

Sponsors

Period	Sponsor
2016–2022	Danske Bank[6]
2023–	Sports Direct[7]

2024 Teams

The following teams make up the 2024 season.

Belfast

Derry City

Larne

Lisburn Ladies

Lisburn Rangers

Mid-Ulster Ladies

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders Strikers
Glentoran
Linfield

Location of teams in the 2024 season

Teams are listed in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Cliftonville	Belfast (Oldpark)	Solitude	2,530
Crusaders Strikers	Belfast (Shore Road)	Seaview	3,383
Derry City	Derry	Brandywell Stadium	3,700
Glentoran	Belfast (Sydenham)	Blanchflower Stadium	1,100
Larne	Larne	Inver Park	3,250
Linfield	Belfast (Boucher Road)	New Midgley Park	n/a
Lisburn Ladies	Lisburn	Bluebell Stadium	1,280
Lisburn Rangers	Lisburn	Crewe Park	n/a
Mid-Ulster Ladies	Dungannon	Stangmore Park	2,000

List of champions

Before 2004 the winner of the Division 1 league was national champion. The first season was played out in 1977.^[8][9]

Season Champion Runner-up 1977–1998 unknown 1999 Lisburn Distillery Predators[10] 2000 Lisburn Distillery Predators[10] 2001 Lisburn Distillery Predators[10] 2002 Crusaders Strikers 2003 Crusaders Strikers 2004 Glentoran Northland Raiders 2005 Crusaders Strikers Glentoran 2006 Glentoran Crusaders Strikers 2007 Glentoran Crusaders Strikers 2008 Glentoran Crusaders Strikers 2009 Crusaders Strikers Glentoran 2010 Crusaders Strikers Glentoran 2011[11] Glentoran Crusaders Strikers 2012 Crusaders Strikers Glentoran 2013[12] Glentoran Crusaders Strikers 2014[13] Glentoran Linfield 2015[14] Newry City Linfield 2016[15] Linfield Cliftonville 2017[16] Linfield Sion Swifts 2018[17] Linfield Glentoran 2019[18] Linfield Sion Swifts 2020 Glentoran Linfield 2021 Glentoran Cliftonville 2022 Cliftonville Glentoran 2023 Glentoran Cliftonville 2024 Cliftonville Glentoran

Northern Irish championships Titles Team 10 Glentoran 6 Crusaders Strikers 4 Linfield 3 Lisburn Distillery Predators 2 Cliftonville 1 Newry City List only includes known titles (misses 1977–1998).

References

1. "2016 DANSKE BANK WOMEN'S PREMIERSHIP LAUNCHED". Archived from the original on 21 August 2016.
2. "Northern Ireland Women's Football Association - NIWFA".
3. "NIFL announce start of Northern Ireland Women's Premiership". 5 March 2016.
4. "Women's Premiership: How each team is shaping up for the new season". Retrieved 2 June 2023.
5. "Five Women's Premiership teams to take part in new all-island competition". Retrieved 2 June 2023.
6. "Northern Ireland Football League confirm Danske Bank partnership to end after 11 years". News Letter. 30 March 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
7. "Sports Direct NI Women's Prem 'Means more than Ever' - but Reds and Glens still to the fore". The Irish News. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
8. "History". Northern Ireland Women's Football Association. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
9. "Northern Ireland - List of Women Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
10. "FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS!". irishfa.com. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2014. ... and in 1999, 2000, and 2001 Lisburn Distillery Predators won the NIWFA Premier League
11. "Glentoran take title". shekicks.net. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
12. "Pitchero League Websites - Manage your league and create an awesome website".
13. "Champions - Again | Glentoran FC".
14. "Zusammenfassung - Premiership Frauen - Nordirland - Ergebnisse, Spielpläne, Tabellen und News - Women Soccerway".
15. "Linfield Ladies' News: McGuinness blasts Linfield to League Title Glory".
16. "Linfield Ladies retain Danske Bank Women's Premiership". goqradio.com. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
17. "#DanskeWomensPrem : Linfield take title after dramatic fightback". shekicks.net. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
18. "Linfield hit 10 in Derry to retain title". BBC Sport.

External links

• Official Site
• League at leaguewebsite.co.uk - Standings, results, fixtures
• women.soccerway.com; results, standings & fixtures
• 2013–15 Website