The 2017–18 NIFL Premiership (known as the

Danske Bank Danske Bank A/S is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail customers. ...

Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 10th season of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 117th season of Irish league football overall, and the fifth season of the league operating as part of the

Northern Ireland Football League The Northern Ireland Football League (commonly abbreviated to NIFL), known historically, and still colloquially, as the Irish League, is the national football league of Northern Ireland. The Irish League was originally formed in 1890, with the l ...

. The season began on 11 August 2017 and concluded on 28 April 2018, with the play-offs taking place in May 2018. Linfield were the defending champions from the previous season. On 28 April 2018,

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

won the title on the final day of the regular season, defeating

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

2–1 at the

Ballymena Showgrounds The Ballymena Showgrounds is a football stadium in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is home to Ballymena United F.C. and Ballymena United Allstars F.C. It is owned by Ballymena Borough Council. In addition to men's soccer a variety ...

to win the league title for the third time in four seasons. Crusaders qualified for the

2018–19 UEFA Champions League The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. For the first tim ...

. The runners-up (and 2017–18 Irish Cup winners), Coleraine, along with third-placed Glenavon and the play-off winners, Cliftonville, all qualified for the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

Teams

Twelve teams competed in the 2017–18 NIFL Premiership.

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits 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 of a ...

were relegated after finishing bottom of the

2016–17 NIFL Premiership The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 116th season of Irish leag ...

and were replaced by Warrenpoint Town as the winners of the 2016–17 NIFL Championship.

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 ...

finished second from bottom but retained their Premiership place after winning the promotion-relegation play-off against NIFL Championship promotion play-off winners

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5–2 on aggregate.

Stadia and locations

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Matches 23–33

During matches 23–33 each team will play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team will play every other team in their half of the table once. As this is the fourth time that teams play each other this season, home sides are chosen so that they will have played each other twice at home and twice away.

Section A

Section B

Play-offs

UEFA Europa League play-offs

As 2017–18 Irish Cup winners, Coleraine, finished as league runners-up, their original runners-up berth in the Europa League was redistributed to third-placed Glenavon. As a result, the four teams finishing 4th–7th took part in Europa League play-offs to decide which one team would qualify for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

Semi-finals

----

Final

''Cliftonville were the UEFA Europa League play-off winners, and qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.''

NIFL Premiership play-offs

Pre-play-off

The runners-up and third-placed teams from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

were set to take part in a promotion pre-play-off match to decide which team would face the eleventh-placed Premiership team,

, in the play-off for a place in next season's Premiership. However, as the third-placed Championship team, Harland and Wolff Welders did not apply for a Premiership licence, the second-placed team,

Newry City Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, although ...

advanced directly to the play-off.

Play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Premiership,

, played Championship runners-up,

, over two legs for a place in the

2018–19 NIFL Premiership The 2018–19 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 118th season of Irish league ...

. ---- ''Newry City won 6–3 on aggregate and were promoted to the NIFL Premiership with Carrick Rangers dropping down into the NIFL Championship.''