The 2025–26 NIFL Premiership (known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland and the 125th season of Irish League football overall.
Teams The league consisted of twelve teams; the top eleven teams from the previous season, and one team promoted from the NIFL Championship. Linfield entered the season as defending champions.
The promoted team was the 2024–25 NIFL Championship champions Bangor (returning to the top flight after a sixteen-year absence). They replaced the 2024–25 NIFL Premiership bottom-placed team Loughgall (relegated from the top flight after two years).
Stadia and locations
ClubStadiumLocationCapacity Ballymena United The Showgrounds Ballymena 3,824 (all seated) Bangor Clandeboye Park Bangor 1,895 (500 seated) Carrick Rangers Loughshore Hotel Arena Carrickfergus 2,100 (380 seated) Cliftonville Solitude Belfast 3,054 (all seated) Coleraine The Showgrounds Coleraine 4,843 (1,607 seated) Crusaders Seaview Belfast 3,208 (all seated) Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park Dungannon 2,000 (300 seated) Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 3,302 (all seated) Glentoran The Oval Belfast 6,054 (3,991 seated) Larne Inver Park Larne 2,732 (1,632 seated) Linfield Windsor Park Belfast 18,434 (all seated) Portadown Shamrock Park Portadown 3,940 (2,765 seated)
Personnel and sponsoring
Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (front)Ballymena United Oran Kearney Sean O'NeillPlayr-FitWrightbusBangor Lee Feeney Lewis HarrisonMacronbailieproperty.comCarrick Rangers Stephen Baxter Luke McCulloughPumaHankookCliftonville Jim Magilton Rory HaleO'NeillsSean GrahamColeraine Ruaidhrí Higgins Lyndon KaneMacronFibrusCrusaders Declan Caddell Jarlath O'RourkeAdidasBoyleSportsDungannon Swifts Rodney McAree Gaël BigirimanaUhlsportTen Square HotelGlenavon Michael O'Connor Barney McKeownAdidasAvondale FoodsGlentoran Declan Devine Marcus KaneMacronBet McLeanLarne Gary Haveron Tomás CosgroveNikePride & Pinion Linfield David Healy Jamie MulgrewMacronReady ConstructionPortadown David Jeffrey Gary ThompsonAdidasDFDS
Managerial changes Team Outgoing Exit date Position in table Incoming Incoming date Announced on Departed on Announced on Arrived onLarne Nathan Rooney Mutual consent18 August 2025 10th Gary Haveron18 August 2025 Glenavon Paddy McLaughlin Sacked28 September 2025 12th David McDaid (interim)30 September 2025 David McDaid End of caretaker spell11 October 2025 12th Michael O'Connor11 October 2025 Ballymena United Jim Ervin Sacked30 November 2025 8th Ciaran Caldwell (interim)30 November 2025 Ciaran Caldwell End of caretaker spell7 December 2025 9th Oran Kearney7 December 2025 Portadown Niall Currie Sacked15 April 2026 8th Gary Thompson (interim)17 April 2026 Gary Thompson End of caretaker spell22 April 2026 8th David Jeffrey22 April 2026
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
Section B League table
Results
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 2026–27 UEFA Conference League first qualifying round; the higher-placed team per game received home advantage. Since the 2025–26 Irish Cup winners (Coleraine) finished in the top seven (2nd), the 3rd-placed team (Glentoran) qualified automatically for the Conference League first qualifying round and the spot was vacated. The 4th-placed team (Linfield) qualified directly to the final by winning the 2025–26 BetMcLean Cup.
Quarter-final
Semi-final
Final
NIFL Premiership play-off The eleventh-placed team (Crusaders) faced the second-placed team of the 2025–26 NIFL Championship (Annagh United) in a two-legged play-off for the final place in the 2026–27 NIFL Premiership.
First leg
Second leg
References
External links