The 2026–27 NIFL Championship (known as the Boyle Sports Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the tenth season of the NIFL Championship (the second-tier of the Irish League, the national football league in Northern Ireland) since gaining senior status. This is the first season with a new expanded format featuring 16 teams.
Teams
The league consists of sixteen teams; eleven teams remaining from the previous season, four teams promoted from the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, and one team relegated from the NIFL Premiership. Because of the league's expansion, no team was relegated after the previous season.
The promoted teams from the 2025–26 NIFL Premier Intermediate League were the champions Moyola Park, as well as Strabane Athletic, Rathfriland Rangers, and Newry City.
The relegated team was the 2025–26 NIFL Premiership bottom-placed team Glenavon. They replaced the 2025–26 NIFL Championship champions Limavady United.
Stadia and locations ClubStadiumLocationCapacityAnnagh UnitedBMG ArenaPortadown1,250 (100 seated)ArdsClandeboye ParkBangor2,000 (500 seated)Armagh CityHolm ParkArmagh2,000 (500 seated)Ballinamallard UnitedFerney ParkBallinamallard2,000 (250 seated)DundelaWilgar ParkBelfast2,500 Glenavon Mourneview Park Lurgan 3,302 (all seated)Harland & Wolff WeldersBlanchflower StadiumBelfast2,000InstituteRyan McBride Brandywell StadiumDerry3,700LoughgallLakeview ParkLoughgall1,300 (800 seated)Moyola ParkMill MeadowCastledawson2,000 (200 seated)NewingtonSolitudeBelfast3,054Newry CityNewry ShowgroundsNewry2,809 (831 seated)Queen's UniversityBlanchflower StadiumBelfast2,000Rathfriland RangersIveagh ParkRathfriland1,000Strabane AthleticLimavady ShowgroundsLimavady1,500 (274 seated)Warrenpoint TownMilltownWarrenpoint1,450
Regular season League table
Results For matches 1–30, each team plays every other team twice (home and away).
Matches 31–37 For the final seven matches, the table splits into two halves, with the top eight teams forming Section A and the bottom eight teams forming Section B. Each team plays every other team in their respective section once.
The winners of Section A are the champions, and they get promoted to the 2026–27 NIFL Premiership, while the runners-up go into a two-legged play-off against the second-bottom team in the Premiership for another place in the Premiership. The bottom club in Section B gets relegated, while the team in the 15th position will face a play-off against the runner-up in the National Conference League Premier (a revamped third tier of the Northern Irish football that replaced the NIFL Premier Intermediate League).
References
External links