The 2016–17 NIFL Championship was the first season of the second-tier Irish League since gaining senior status. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. The season began on 13 August 2016 and concluded on 29 April 2017. On 1 April 2017, Warrenpoint Town came from 0–2 down to defeat

Institute An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

3–2 to clinch the league title and an instant return to the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

for the 2017–18 season.

Teams

The 2016–17 NIFL Championship consisted of 12 teams.

Ards Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

were champions of Championship 1 in the previous season and were promoted to the

2016–17 NIFL Premiership The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 116th season of Irish league football overall ...

. The next highest place team eligible for promotion, fifth-placed finishers

were defeated by

Ballinamallard United Ballinamallard United Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club, re-formed in 1975 after being dormant since the 1960s, hails from Ballinamallard, near Enniskillen, County Ferman ...

in the Premiership play-off; therefore failing to achieve promotion. The bottom two teams from the previous season,

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, Lisburn. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of the Nor ...

and

Donegal Celtic Donegal Celtic Football & Social Club is an intermediate football and social club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland who currently play in the Ballymena & Provincial Football League. The club, founded in 1970, plays its home matches at Donegal ...

were relegated to the third-tier

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League (Known as the Playr-Fit NIFL Premier Intermediate League for sponsorship reasons) is the third level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and t ...

; they were joined by Bangor after they failed to gain the Championship Licence, required for playing at second-tier level. They were replaced by

PSNI The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it w ...

, runners-up of the (now defunct) Championship 2 in the previous season; champions

Limavady United Limavady United Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club comes from Limavady, County Londonderry, and plays home matches at the Showgrounds. Club colours are royal blue shirt ...

were ineligible for promotion after failing to gain the required licence.

Stadia and locations

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home-and-away).

Matches 23–32

During matches 23–32 each team played every other team in their half of the table twice (home-and-away).

Top six

Bottom six

Play-offs

NIFL Premiership play-offs

The second and third-placed teams from the Championship,

and Ballyclare Comrades respectively, took part in the Premiership play-off semi-final. The winners will then play

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as th ...

in the play-off final; the winners of this tie will play in the top-flight next season.

NIFL Championship play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Championship, Armagh City, played the runners-up from the 2016–17 Premier Intermediate League, Newry City, over two legs for one spot in the 2017–18 NIFL Championship. ---- ''Newry City won 7–1 on aggregate and are promoted to the 2017–18 NIFL Championship; Armagh City are relegated to the 2017–18 NIFL Premier Intermediate League.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 NIFL Championship NIFL Championship seasons

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

2016–17 in Northern Ireland association football