The 2018–19 NIFL Championship was the third season of the

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

since gaining senior status. It is the second-tier 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 national football league in

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 ...

Teams

The 2018–19 NIFL Championship was contested by 12 teams.

Institute An institute is an organisational 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 can ...

were champions in the previous season, and were promoted to 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 ...

. They were replaced by the bottom team in last season's Premiership,

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 Ferma ...

. Runners-up

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 ...

won 6–3 on aggregate in the

promotion play-off Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

against

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 ...

, also achieving promotion to the Premiership for this season and relegating Carrick Rangers to the Championship. The bottom team from the previous season,

Lurgan Celtic Lurgan Celtic Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club based in Lurgan, County Armagh, that currently plays in the Mid-Ulster Football League Junior Division 3. The club was founded, 1903 & re-formed in 1970 who plays in a st ...

, were relegated to the third-tier

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League is the third division of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and the highest intermediate division in Northern Ireland, occupying level three in ...

. They were replaced by Dundela, winners of the Premier Intermediate League. The eleventh-placed team from the previous season, Dergview, remained in the Championship this season, after defeating the NIFL Premier Intermediate League runners-up Queen's University 4–1 on aggregate in the relegation play-off.

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 plays every other team in their half of the table twice (home and away).

Top six

Bottom six

Play-offs

NIFL Premiership play-offs

''See:

NIFL Championship play-off

The eleventh-placed team from the Championship,

PSNI The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

, faced

Annagh United Annagh United Football Club (The name 'Annagh' ) is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club, founded in 1963, hails from Portadown and plays its home matches at the BMG Arena. The club home co ...

, the runners-up from the 2018–19 Premier Intermediate League over two legs for one spot in the

2019–20 NIFL Championship The 2019–20 NIFL Championship was the fourth season of the NIFL Championship since gaining senior status. It is the second-tier of the Northern Ireland Football League - the national football league in Northern Ireland. The season began on 3 Augu ...

. PSNI won 5–3 on aggregate to retain their place in the Championship for next season. Annagh United remained in the Premier Intermediate League. ---- ''PSNI won 5–3 on aggregate and retained their Championship status for the 2019–20 season.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 NIFL Championship NIFL Championship seasons

2018–19 in Northern Ireland association football