The 2019–20 NIFL Championship was the fourth season of the

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Playr-Fit Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championsh ...

since gaining senior status. It is the second-tier of the

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

- the national football league in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The season began on 3 August 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude in April 2020, However, the season was suspended on 13 March 2020 as a result of the worldwide

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. No further fixtures were played, with the final games held on 10 March 2020 and the season being officially curtailed in June 2020.

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

were the current champions. However, due to their promotion to the

2019–20 NIFL Premiership The 2019–20 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 119th season of Irish league football overal ...

, they were unable to defend their title. The

Irish FA The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

initially suspended all football-related activity in Northern Ireland until 4 April, with this suspension subsequently being extended first until 30 April, and then until 31 May. In June 2020, NIFL announced that the season was over, and that average points per game would be used to determine the final league standings.

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

were declared champions, gaining promotion to the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership, while

PSNI The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it w ...

suffered relegation to the

NIFL Premier Intermediate League The NIFL Premier Intermediate League (Known as the Playr-Fit NIFL Premier Intermediate League for sponsorship reasons) is the third level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national association football league in Northern Ireland, and t ...

. The promotion/relegation play-offs were cancelled, meaning 11th-placed Knockbreda were reprieved from relegation, and runners-up Ballinamallard United missed out on the chance of promotion.

Teams

The 2019–20 NIFL Championship is being contested by 12 teams, nine of which retained their Championship status from the previous season.

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

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

. They were replaced by the bottom team in last season's Premiership, Newry City. Runners-up Carrick Rangers won 3–1 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 i ...

against

Ards Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

, also achieving promotion to the Premiership for this season and relegating Ards to the Championship. The bottom team from the previous season, Limavady United, were relegated to the third-tier

. They were replaced by Queen's University, winners of the Premier Intermediate League. The eleventh-placed team from the previous season,

, remained in the Championship this season, after defeating the NIFL Premier Intermediate League runners-up

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 c ...

5–3 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 23–33

During matches 23–33 each team was scheduled to play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away). However, some fixtures did not take place, after the league season was curtailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 NIFL Championship NIFL Championship seasons

2019–20 in Northern Ireland association football