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The 2007–08 Irish Premier League was the 107th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in
Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, and the 5th and final edition in its current format (as the Irish Premier League) since its inception in 2003. Linfield won the league for the 48th time and 3rd consecutive season.


Summary

This was the last season of the competition before the league system in Northern Ireland was restructured. The 2008–09 competition onwards would be re-branded as the IFA Premiership, with stricter rules governing the eligibility of clubs wishing to take part. The top tier of the Northern Irish league system would also be reduced in size from sixteen clubs, to twelve. The season began on 22 September 2007, and ended on 26 April 2008. Linfield were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title, winning their 48th title by 3 points. Five teams were relegated to the newly introduced
IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Champion ...
for the following season.


League table


Results

Each team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games.


League restructuring

From the 2008–09 season onwards, the league system in Northern Ireland was re-structured. It would be renamed as the IFA Premiership, and reduced to twelve teams, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007–08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria as follows. Each applicant club was assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria: *''Sporting'' – based on league placings, Irish Cup, League Cup and European performances in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08; with points also awarded for running youth teams, women's teams and community development programmes. *''Finance'' – based on solvency, debt management and cash-flow projection. *''Infrastructure'' – based on stadium capacity, changing provisions, sanitary facilities, field of play, floodlighting, existence and standard of control room, first aid room, drug testing room and media facilities. *''Personnel'' – based on qualification and experience of staff *''Business planning'' *''Attendances'' Five of this season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership and were relegated to the newly introduced
IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Champion ...
. Of the five teams that missed out, two of them - Armagh City and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence, while
Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland.
is a to ...
did not apply. Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but were ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place. Finally,
Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
also obtained a licence, but were relegated to the
IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Champion ...
as a result of submitting their application for the IFA Premiership 29 minutes past the deadline for consideration. That left thirteen clubs to be ranked - twelve from this season's Premier League plus Bangor, who had finished fourth in the First Division.


Rankings

Source
BBC Sport
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References


External links




Soccerway


{{DEFAULTSORT:2007-08 Irish Premier League
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1 NIFL Premiership seasons