Season | 2021–22 |
---|---|
Dates | 27 Aug 2021 – 30 Apr 2022 |
Champions | Linfield 8th Premiership title 56th Irish title |
Relegated | Warrenpoint Town |
UEFA Champions League | Linfield |
UEFA Europa Conference League | Crusaders (via Irish Cup) Cliftonville Larne (via play-offs) |
Matches played | 228 |
Goals scored | 621 (2.72 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Jay Donnelly (25 goals) |
Biggest home win | Linfield 5–0 Dungannon Swifts (19 March 2022) |
Biggest away win | Warrenpoint Town 1–6 Glenavon (4 September 2021) Dungannon Swifts 0–5 Coleraine (11 September 2021) Dungannon Swifts 1–6 Linfield (1 January 2022) Portadown 0–5 Carrick Rangers (30 April 2022) |
Highest scoring | Glentoran 6–2 Carrick Rangers (28 March 2022) |
Highest attendance | 8,007 Linfield 1–1 Glentoran (27 December 2021)[1] |
Lowest attendance | 98 Carrick Rangers 1–2 Dungannon Swifts (4 December 2021)[1] |
Total attendance | 328,529[2] |
Average attendance | 1,441 |
← 2020–21 2022–23 → |
The 2021–22 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the NIFL Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, the 121st season of Irish League football overall, and the 9th season of the league operating as part of the Northern Ireland Football League.
Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 56th time and the 4th consecutive season. The season was due to begin in early August, however, due to the previous season finishing a few weeks later than usual in late May 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, the start of this season was pushed back.
Summary
The 38-game season commenced on 27 August 2021 and concluded on 30 April 2022, with the play-offs taking place during the first two weeks in May 2022.[3]
Linfield were the three-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous three seasons - the 2020–21 season seeing them win a then world record-equalling 55th league title. This season Linfield once again retained their title, securing a world record 56th league crown on the final day of the season. A 2–0 win over Coleraine meant that the Blues pipped runners-up Cliftonville to the title by a single point. This was the first time in 35 years that a club had won four consecutive titles, with Linfield winning the last of their six consecutive titles in the 1986–87 season. It was also the narrowest title-winning margin since the 2008–09 season, when Glentoran won the title by a single point ahead of Linfield. At the bottom end of the table, Warrenpoint Town were relegated to the NIFL Championship after five years as a Premiership club, with Championship winners Newry City promoted to replace them for the following season. Portadown retained their Premiership status after defeating Annagh United 4–2 on aggregate in the Premiership play-off.
League winners Linfield entered the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, while Larne (play-off winners) and Crusaders (Irish Cup winners) joined Cliftonville (league runners-up) in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.
Teams
Twelve teams competed in the 2021–22 NIFL Premiership, the same twelve teams from the previous season. No relegation took place from the previous season's Premiership, after a majority of second-tier NIFL Championship clubs voted to cancel their 2020–21 season. The second and third tiers had not been granted 'elite' sporting status by the IFA which was required in order to continue playing matches during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, with lower division clubs not having played any league fixtures since the 2019–20 season had initially been suspended in March 2020.[4]
Dungannon Swifts finished bottom of the table the previous season, but were reprieved from relegation. Carrick Rangers were also reprieved, having finished in 11th place. This would normally have required them to take part in the NIFL Premiership play-off against the qualifier from the NIFL Championship.
Stadia and locations
Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity[5][6] |
---|---|---|---|
Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,824 (all 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) |
Warrenpoint Town | Milltown | Warrenpoint | 2,000 (150 seated) |
League table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Linfield (C) | 38 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 67 | 24 | +43 | 83 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
2 | Cliftonville | 38 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 61 | 29 | +32 | 82 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
3 | Glentoran | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 68 | 44 | +24 | 71 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[lower-alpha 2] |
4 | Crusaders | 38 | 21 | 5 | 12 | 60 | 36 | +24 | 68 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 3] |
5 | Larne (O) | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 61 | 39 | +22 | 62 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[lower-alpha 2] |
6 | Coleraine | 38 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 55 | 45 | +10 | 51 | |
7 | Glenavon | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 54 | 50 | +4 | 54 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs[lower-alpha 2] |
8 | Ballymena United | 38 | 16 | 5 | 17 | 46 | 52 | −6 | 53 | |
9 | Dungannon Swifts | 38 | 11 | 2 | 25 | 46 | 86 | −40 | 35 | |
10 | Carrick Rangers | 38 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 41 | 67 | −26 | 34 | |
11 | Portadown (O) | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 29 | 72 | −43 | 25 | Qualification for the NIFL Premiership play-off |
12 | Warrenpoint Town (R) | 38 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 35 | 79 | −44 | 21 | Relegation to the NIFL Championship |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Drawing of lots[7]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
- 1 2 3 Larne entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as play-off winners.
- ↑ Crusaders entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as 2021–22 Irish Cup winners.
Results
Matches 1–22During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away). |
Matches 23–33During matches 23–33 each team played every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
|
Matches 34–38
For the final five matches the table was then split into two halves, with teams ranked 1st–6th in Section A and teams ranked 7th–12th in Section B. During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their respective section once. The fixtures were reversed from those played during rounds 23–33, ensuring that teams had played every other team in their respective section twice at home and twice away overall throughout the season.
Section A |
Section B
|
Play-offs
UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs
Four of the clubs that finished in 3rd–7th place competed for one place in the 2022–23 Europa Conference League first qualifying round, with 4th-placed Crusaders vacating their play-off place as they qualified for Europe directly by winning the Irish Cup. The play-offs were one-off matches with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage against the lower-ranked teams (i.e. 3rd v. 7th and 5th v. 6th) in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners also had home advantage in the final.
Semi-finals
Final
NIFL Premiership play-off
The eleventh-placed club, Portadown, faced the second-placed club from the 2021–22 NIFL Championship, Annagh United, for one place in the following season's Premiership.
Annagh United | 2–3 | Portadown |
---|---|---|
Upton 22' Murray 27' |
NIFL | Beverland 13' Teggart 71' Stedman 73' |
Portadown won 4–2 on aggregate.
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[8] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jay Donnelly | Glentoran | 26 |
2 | Conor McMenamin | Glentoran | 20 |
3 | Ryan Curran | Cliftonville | 19 |
4 | Christy Manzinga | Linfield | 17 |
5 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | Glenavon | 13 |
Joe Gormley | Cliftonville | ||
Matthew Shevlin | Coleraine | ||
8 | Peter Campbell | Glenavon | 11 |
Ben Kennedy | Crusaders | ||
David McDaid | Larne |
References
- 1 2 "NIFL Premiership results 2021-2022". Northern Ireland Football League.
- ↑ "Irish League boast huge rise in attendances as Covid-19 concerns ease". Belfast Live. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ↑ "Irish Premiership: New season to start on 28 August following feedback from managers". BBC. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ↑ "NIFL Championship: 2020/2021 season declared null and void after clubs vote". BBC. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ↑ "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ↑ "Sport NI Annual review 2008/09" (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ↑ "NIFL Premiership Rules 2020–21" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ↑ "Irish Premiership Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2021.