The 2022–23 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) is the 15th 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 122nd season of the Irish League overall, and the 10th season since the creation 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 38-game season commenced on 12 August 2022 and is due to conclude on 29 April 2023. Linfield are the four-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous four seasons - the 2021–22 season seeing them win a world record 56th league crown. The winners will enter the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, while the runners-up will join the Irish Cup winners and the play-off winners in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

Teams

Twelve teams will compete in this season's Premiership, eleven of which return from the previous season. Warrenpoint Town finished bottom of the table the previous season, and were relegated to the NIFL Championship after five years as a Premiership club, with Championship winners

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 ...

promoted to replace them for this season's Premiership. 11th-placed

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 ...

retained their Premiership status after defeating

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 ...

4–2 on aggregate in the Premiership play-off.

Stadia and locations

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team will play 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

For the final five matches the table will be split into two halves, with teams ranked 1st–6th in Section A and teams ranked 7th–12th in Section B. During matches 34–38 each team will play every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures will be reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams have played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.

Section A

Section B

Play-offs

UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs

Four or five of the clubs that finish in 3rd–7th place will compete for one place in the 2023–24 Europa Conference League first qualifying round. The play-offs are one-off matches with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage against the lower-ranked teams (i.e. ''3rd v. 7th'' and ''5th v. 6th'') in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners will also have home advantage in the final.

NIFL Premiership play-off

The eleventh-placed club will face the second-placed club from the 2022–23 NIFL Championship for one place in the following season's Premiership.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 NIFL Premiership NIFL Premiership seasons

2022–23 in Northern Ireland association football