The National Premier League, also known for sponsorship purposes as the Red Stripe Premier League, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the top division for men's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

. Contested between 12 clubs, it operates on a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

with Jamaica's regional Super Leagues where the two lowest placed teams are relegated to their corresponding local second division league.

History

The National Premier League was formed in 1973 to serve as the top tier of Jamaican professional club football. The league's inaugural season kicked off on September 22, 1973 as the ''Kingston Major League'', and finished with

Santos F.C. Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals in ...

as the first title winners. 13 different clubs have been crowned champions of Jamaica. With

Portmore United Portmore United Football Club is a Jamaican football team in the top flight Jamaica National Premier League. The team trains and plays home matches at the Prison Oval. History Hazard United The club was formed as ''Hazard United'' and has bee ...

being the most successful team with 7 national titles. To date, the league has produced four Caribbean champions: Portmore United (2005, 2019) and Harbour View (2004, 2007). As of the 2020 season, no team from the league has made it past the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League. The league has been more successful in the new CONCACAF League competition with both Portmore United (2018) and Waterhouse (2019) making it to the quarterfinals. The 2019-2020 season was ruled null and void due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

on March 12, 2020. In May 2021, the Jamaican Football Federation announced that the National Premier League would resume, playing a shortened season between June and September, competed by the 12 teams from the previous season In June 2021, UWI F.C. announced it would withdraw ahead of the 2021 season due to the modified schedule conflicting with other player commitments; leaving 11 teams in the competition.

Competition format

The Premier League's regular season typically runs from late August to May the following year. Teams are organized into a single-table format and the competition is divided into three stages, with clubs playing each other once during each stage. Following the third stage (33 matches), the teams are divided into two groups based on point totals and enter the fourth round of league play. The top six clubs contend for the championship, with the bottom six teams fighting to avoid relegation. The bottom two finishers are replaced the next season by the top two finishers of the second division regional playoffs. The top two finishers in a given season qualify for the

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

, a regional club tournament held each spring. A top-four finish in the CFU Club Championship is the only route for Jamaican teams to enter the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Amer ...

and the

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

2022 Clubs

A total of 12 teams contest the league in the current season.

Champions

Since the inaugural 1973-74 season, 13 teams have claimed the National Premier League title. As of 2022,

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

are the reigning title holders, making this their first league title in 40 years along with winning their second title in history. ''Note: No championship was awarded for the 1978–79, 1981–82, and 2019-2020 seasons.'' Source
RSSSF

Top scorers

Source
JPL Statistics

Premier League Awards

At the conclusion of each season, the league presents several awards for outstanding achievements, mostly to players, but also coaches, referees, and commissioners. *Fair Play *Junior Player of the Year *NPL Season MVP *Coach of the Year *Tony Burrowes Player Personality of the Year *Top Goal Scorer or the Year *Goalkeeper of the Year *Referees for the Season *Match Commissioner of the Year

References

External links

Official Website
RSSSF.com
Premier League summary
SOCCERWAY) {{CONCACAF Leagues 1

1973 establishments in Jamaica Sports leagues established in 1973