Larne Football Club is a professional

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

football club based in

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

that play in the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

History

The club was founded in 1889 and plays its home matches at

Inver Park Inver Park is a football stadium in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Larne F.C. The land was acquired by Larne in 1918 and has been in continuous use as a stadium ever since. In 2010 the official capacity was se ...

. The club's colours are red and white, and the club's greatest rivals are

Ballyclare Comrades Ballyclare Comrades Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club playing in the NIFL Championship. The club hails from Ballyclare, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Dixon Park. Club colours are red and white. The ...

and

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 ...

; their matches are known as "The East Antrim Derby". From 1972 until 2008, the club had senior status, but reverted to intermediate status when it failed to gain a place in the new

IFA Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

. The club regained senior status in 2016, when the NIFL Championship became the second tier of senior football for the 2016–17 season. Larne have notably been runners-up of the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

on six occasions (1928, 1935,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, 2005 and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

) and runners-up of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

twice ( 1991–92 and 2003–04) without ever winning either Cup - a record in both respective competitions for the most final appearances without ever winning. After being taken over by

Purplebricks Purplebricks is an online estate agent which operates in the UK. Founded in 2012 by Michael Bruce and Kenny Bruce, it is backed by investors that include venture capital firm DN Capital as well as Neil Woodford, Paul Pindar, and Errol Dame ...

co-founder Kenny Bruce in October 2018, the club lifted the

2018–19 NIFL Championship The 2018–19 NIFL Championship was the third 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. Teams The 2018–19 NIFL C ...

title. This was the club's first ever senior tier league title, their first league title since an intermediate title win in 1972, and the first senior honour since lifting the

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

in 1988. This secured a return to the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

for the first time since suffering relegation to the second tier in the 2007–08 season after failing to meet the criteria for the new IFA Premiership. They also field a women's team, whose colours are red & white (home) and purple & black (away). Formed by a small committee of parents and friends of the Larne Colts in November 2004, they made history by being the first ladies' team to play at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual renta ...

as part of the half-time entertainment during the

final in May 2005. The ladies also have a junior team for ages 8–14. The Senior Ladies' team has recently been reincorporated back into the club. In their inaugural season (2018), they finished the season as the unbeaten North 2 League Champions, and also as beaten finalists in the North 2 League Cup. They now play in the top tier (NIFL Women's Premiership) of the Northern Ireland Women's football league system after 5 consecutive promotions.

Current squad

Out on loan

Non-playing staff

European record

Overview

Matches

UEFA ranking

Honours

Senior honours

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

: 3 **2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 *

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 ...

: 1 ** 2018–19 *

: 2 **1949–50, 1987–88Brodie, Malcolm. ''Belfast Telegraph Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 1999/2000''. p. 11

Intermediate honours

Irish League B Division 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 ...

: 10 **1954–55, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72 *

Irish Intermediate League The Irish Intermediate League was a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, which also included reserve sides of senior teams. The league ran from 1915 until 1954. History It began in 1915 after the amalgamation of ...

: 1 **1952–53 *

Irish Intermediate Cup The Irish Intermediate Cup is a Northern Irish football competition for teams of intermediate status, including NIFL Premiership reserve sides. It is a straight knock-out tournament and is currently sponsored by McCombs Coach Travel. The curre ...

: 3 **1942–43†, 1958–59, 1969–70 * George Wilson Cup: 6 **1958–59, 1959–60, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1977–78†, 1978–79† *

Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...

: 11 **1909–10, 1941–42†, 1942–43†, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72 *Louis Moore Cup: 2 **1956–57 (shared with Banbridge Town), 1958–59 * McElroy Cup: 1 **1948–49 † Won by Larne Olympic (reserve team)

Junior honours

*Irish Junior Cup: 1 **1900–01

References

External links

Larne FC Website

Larne FC Official Twitter
{{Authority control Association football clubs established in 1889 Association football clubs in Northern Ireland Larne NIFL Championship clubs Association football clubs in County Antrim 1889 establishments in Ireland