2020–21 NIFL Premiership

The 2020–21 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of Northern Ireland's highest national football league in this format since its inception in 2008, the 120th season of Irish league football overall, and the eighth season since the creation of the Northern Ireland Football League. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland at the time meant that the start of the season was delayed by approximately two months. The 38-game season commenced on 16 October 2020 and concluded on 29 May 2021, with the European play-offs then taking place on 1 and 5 June 2021. The fixtures were released on 19 September 2020.^[1]

NIFL Premiership

Season	2020–21
Dates	16 Oct 2020 – 29 May 2021
Champions	Linfield 7th Premiership title 55th Irish title
Relegated	N/A
UEFA Champions League	Linfield
UEFA Europa Conference League	Coleraine Glentoran Larne (via play-offs)
Matches played	228
Goals scored	674 (2.96 per match)
Top goalscorer	Shayne Lavery (23 goals)
Biggest home win	Linfield 7–0 Carrick Rangers (13 March 2021)
Biggest away win	Carrick Rangers 0–5 Glentoran (5 March 2021) Warrenpoint Town 0–5 Cliftonville (3 April 2021)
Highest scoring	Carrick Rangers 3–6 Glenavon (25 May 2021)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

Linfield were the two-time defending champions, having been league winners in the previous two seasons - the curtailed 2019–20 season seeing them win a then world record-equalling 54th league title. This season Linfield won a third consecutive title, once again equalling the world record for the most top flight league titles in club football, drawing level with Rangers, who had just won their 55th Scottish title two months earlier. Linfield entered the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, while runners-up Coleraine and 3rd-placed Glentoran joined the European play-off winners, Larne, in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

There was no relegation from the Premiership this season, after a majority of NIFL Championship clubs voted to cancel their 2020–21 season, having not played any league fixtures since the 2019–20 season had initially been suspended in March 2020.^[2] 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.

Teams

 

 

Belfast

 

Ballymena United

 

Coleraine

 

Dungannon Swifts

 

Glenavon

 

Portadown

 

Larne

 

Carrick Rangers

 

Warrenpoint Town

 

Belfast teams : Cliftonville
Crusaders
Glentoran
Linfield

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Locations of the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership teams

 

 

Cliftonville

 

Crusaders

 

Glentoran

 

Linfield

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Locations of the Belfast-based 2020–21 NIFL Premiership teams

Twelve teams competed in the 2020–21 NIFL Premiership, eleven of which had retained their Premiership status from the previous season. Last season's bottom Premiership club, Institute, were relegated to the NIFL Championship after two seasons in the top flight, and were replaced by Portadown, who were promoted to this season's Premiership as 2019–20 NIFL Championship winners.^[3] This marked Portadown's return to the top flight for the first time since the 2016–17 season.

The promotion/relegation play-off did not take place the previous season, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stadia and locations

Club	Stadium	Location	Capacity^[4]^[5]
Ballymena United	The Showgrounds	Ballymena	3,600 (all seated)
Carrick Rangers	Loughshore Hotel Arena	Carrickfergus	2,500 (250 seated)
Cliftonville	Solitude	Belfast	2,530 (all seated)
Coleraine	The Showgrounds	Coleraine	3,500 (1,106 seated)
Crusaders	Seaview	Belfast	3,383 (all seated)
Dungannon Swifts	Stangmore Park	Dungannon	2,000 (300 seated)
Glenavon	Mourneview Park	Lurgan	4,160 (3,200 seated)
Glentoran	The Oval	Belfast	6,054 (4,989 seated)
Larne	Inver Park	Larne	2,000 (1,250 seated)
Linfield	Windsor Park	Belfast	18,614 (all seated)
Portadown	Shamrock Park	Portadown	3,940 (2,765 seated)
Warrenpoint Town	Milltown	Warrenpoint	1,280 (150 seated)

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
1	Linfield (C)	38	24	6	8	83	38	+45	78	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Coleraine	38	21	10	7	57	35	+22	73	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round^[b]
3	Glentoran	38	20	11	7	65	32	+33	71
4	Larne (O)	38	18	10	10	64	41	+23	64	Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs^[c]
5	Cliftonville	38	17	9	12	59	42	+17	60
6	Crusaders	38	16	6	16	62	50	+12	54
7	Glenavon	38	17	11	10	72	65	+7	62^[d]	Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs^[c]
8	Ballymena United	38	18	7	13	67	44	+23	61^[d]
9	Portadown	38	10	6	22	50	78	−28	36
10	Warrenpoint Town	38	9	9	20	38	74	−36	36
11	Carrick Rangers	38	5	8	25	35	92	−57	23
12	Dungannon Swifts	38	4	5	29	22	83	−61	17

Source: Northern Ireland Football League
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^[6]
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner
Notes:

1. 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.
2. Since 2020–21 Irish Cup winners Linfield qualified for the Champions League, the 3rd-placed team, Glentoran, also entered the Europa Conference League first qualifying round
3. Larne qualified for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round as Europa Conference League play-off winners.
4. After 33 games, clubs in the bottom half of the table at the split cannot climb into the top half, regardless of the results during matches 34–38.

Results

Matches 1–22 During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away). Home \ Away BYM CRK CLF COL CRU DUN GLA GLT LAR LIN POR WPT Ballymena United — 2–0 1–1 0–1 1–4 0–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 2–3 2–1 2–0 Carrick Rangers 0–2 — 0–1 0–2 1–3 0–0 3–4 0–5 1–2 1–1 4–1 1–3 Cliftonville 0–4 3–0 — 0–2 2–2 3–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 4–3 5–0 3–0 Coleraine 0–1 3–0 2–2 — 2–1 2–0 0–0 2–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 2–1 Crusaders 2–1 1–3 1–0 1–0 — 3–1 0–1 2–0 3–3 1–2 5–0 4–0 Dungannon Swifts 1–5 0–2 2–1 2–0 2–1 — 1–2 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–3 0–2 Glenavon 2–1 1–1 1–1 4–4 3–1 0–0 — 2–1 1–4 1–2 2–4 1–0 Glentoran 0–2 6–0 1–0 2–2 1–0 5–1 1–1 — 0–0 3–1 2–1 0–0 Larne 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–2 2–1 3–0 2–1 1–1 — 3–1 2–2 1–1 Linfield 2–1 5–1 2–0 0–0 2–1 4–0 2–0 3–3 2–1 — 3–0 6–0 Portadown 0–0 2–0 1–1 0–3 2–2 1–0 4–1 1–3 1–2 1–2 — 0–2 Warrenpoint Town 1–1 0–0 0–5 1–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–2 1–1 2–1 1–1 — Source: Northern Ireland Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 23–33 During matches 23–33 each team played every other team for the third time (either at home, or away). Home \ Away BYM CRK CLF COL CRU DUN GLA GLT LAR LIN POR WPT Ballymena United — 2–0 — 1–2 0–1 5–1 — 2–2 — 2–1 — — Carrick Rangers — — — — 1–1 1–1 — — 1–3 — 5–3 1–1 Cliftonville 2–1 5–0 — 2–1 — — 2–1 0–2 — — — 3–0 Coleraine — 1–0 — — 2–0 — — 1–1 2–0 — 2–0 2–1 Crusaders — — 2–2 — — — 6–1 1–0 — 1–2 — 0–2 Dungannon Swifts — — 1–2 2–3 0–2 — 0–4 — — — 0–1 — Glenavon 3–2 1–1 — 1–1 — — — — 2–2 3–2 — — Glentoran — 2–0 — — — 2–0 3–1 — 3–2 — 4–0 — Larne 0–1 — 0–0 — 0–3 3–0 — — — 1–1 — 5–0 Linfield — 7–0 2–0 2–1 — 2–0 — 0–1 — — — 5–0 Portadown 1–2 — 1–2 — 1–2 — 1–2 — 2–1 0–1 — — Warrenpoint Town 2–2 — — — — 4–1 3–4 1–2 — — 1–3 — Source: Northern Ireland Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

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 Home \ Away CLF COL CRU GLT LAR LIN Cliftonville — — 1–1 — 1–2 0–2 Coleraine 2–0 — — — — 1–1 Crusaders — 0–1 — — 1–3 — Glentoran 0–2 1–1 2–0 — — 0–0 Larne — 1–2 — 0–1 — — Linfield — — 3–1 — 1–2 — Source: Northern Ireland Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Section B Home \ Away BYM CRK DUN GLA POR WPT Ballymena United — — — 3–1 4–2 3–0 Carrick Rangers 0–4 — — 3–6 — — Dungannon Swifts 1–3 0–2 — — — 0–1 Glenavon — — 1–1 — 4–1 4–0 Portadown — 2–1 4–2 — — 1–2 Warrenpoint Town — 3–1 — — — — Source: Northern Ireland Football League Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Play-offs

UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs

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. 4th 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.

As Linfield won the 2020–21 Irish Cup and also qualified for the Champions League, the 3rd-placed team qualified for the Europa Conference League directly, vacating one of the play-off places. As a result, the remaining four clubs that finished in 4th–7th place competed for one place in the 2021–22 Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

The semi-finals were played on 1 June 2021, with the final played on 5 June 2021. Larne were the play-off winners, qualifying for European football for the first time in the club's history.

Semi-finals

1 June 2021 (2021-06-01)

19:30 BST

Semi-final

Larne (4th)	2–1	Glenavon (7th)
McDaid   8' Donnelly   90+3'	BBC Sport	Purkis   5'

Inver Park, Larne

Referee: Lee Tavinder

---

1 June 2021 (2021-06-01)

19:30 BST

Semi-final

Cliftonville (5th)	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Crusaders (6th)
	BBC Sport
Penalties
Hale   O'Connor   R.Curran   O'Neill   Gormley	5–4	Kennedy   Cushley   O'Rourke   Larmour   Ruddy

Solitude, Belfast

Referee: Raymond Crangle

Final

5 June 2021 (2021-06-05)

17:30 BST

Final

Larne (4th)	3–1	Cliftonville (5th)
McDaid   33', 80' Lynch   64'	BBC Sport	O'Connor   59'

Inver Park, Larne

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals^[7]
1	Shayne Lavery	Linfield	23
2	Shay McCartan	Ballymena United	18
3	Jay Donnelly	Glentoran	17
4	Ryan Curran	Cliftonville	15
	Andrew Waterworth	Linfield
6	Lee Bonis	Portadown	14
	Ben Doherty	Coleraine
	Michael McCrudden	Cliftonville
9	Matthew Fitzpatrick	Glenavon	13
	Daniel Purkis	Glenavon

Clean Sheets

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	Clean sheets^[7]
1	Chris Johns	Linfield	14
2	Gareth Deane	Coleraine	10
	Conor Devlin	Larne
4	Dayle Coleing	Glentoran	8
5	Aaron McCarey	Cliftonville	7
	Jordan Williamson	Ballymena United
7	Rory Brown	Glentoran	5
	Craig Hyland	Glenavon
	Sean O'Neill	Crusaders
10	Richard Brush	Cliftonville	4

References

1. "Irish Premiership: Linfield host Carrick Rangers on opening day as Irish League returns on 17 October". BBC. 19 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
2. "NIFL Championship: 2020/2021 season declared null and void after clubs vote". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
3. "Irish Premiership: Linfield officially crowned 2019-20 league champions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
4. "AQW 1178/11". niassembly.gov.uk. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
5. (PDF). sportni.net. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
6. "NIFL Premiership Rules 2020–21" (PDF). NIFL. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
7. "NIFL Premiership Statistics". Northern Ireland Football League. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

External links

• Official website