The 2024–25 NIFL Premiership (known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season of the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

, the highest level of league football 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 ...

and the 124th season of Irish League football overall. Linfield won the title for the 57th time.

Teams

The league consisted of twelve teams; the top eleven teams from the previous season, and one team promoted from the NIFL Championship.

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

entered the season as defending champions (for the second consecutive season). The promoted team was the 2023–24 NIFL Championship champions

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 ...

(returning to the top-flight after a one-season absence). They replaced the 2023–24 NIFL Premiership bottom-placed team Newry City.

Stadia and locations

Regular season

League table

Results

For matches 1–22, each team plays every other team twice (home and away). For matches 23–33, each team plays every other team for the third time (either at home or away).

Matches 34–38

For the final five matches, the table splits into two halves, with the top six teams forming Section A and the bottom six teams forming Section B. Each team plays every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures are 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

League table

Results

Each team plays each other once (either at home or away).

Section B

League table

Results

Each team plays each other once (either at home or away).

Play-offs

Conference League play-off

Teams placed 3rd–7th qualified for one-off play-off matches, with the winners earning the second spot in the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League first qualifying round; the higher-placed team per game received home advantage. Teams finishing 4th-7th qualified for the quarter-finals; the 3rd-placed team qualified for the final. Since the 2024–25 Irish Cup winners ( Dungannon Swifts) finished in the top seven (4th), the spot and the quarter-finals were vacated.

Semi-finals

Final

NIFL Premiership play-off

The eleventh-placed club ( Carrick Rangers) faced the second-placed club from the 2024–25 NIFL Championship ( Annagh United) in a two-legged play-off for the final place in the 2025–26 NIFL Premiership.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Regular season

League table

Results

Matches 34–38

Section A

League table

Results

Section B

League table

Results

Play-offs

Conference League play-off

Semi-finals

Final

NIFL Premiership play-off

First leg

Second leg

References

External links