2016–17 NIFL Premiership
| Season | 2016–17 |
|---|---|
| Matches played | 113 |
| Goals scored | 340 (3.01 per match) |
| Biggest home win |
Crusaders 6–0 Ballymena United (6 August 2016) Dungannon Swifts 6–0 Portadown (8 October 2016) |
| Biggest away win |
Portadown 0–5 Linfield (26 November 2016) |
| Highest scoring |
Ballymena United 3–4 Ards (20 August 2016) Crusaders 4–3 Cliftonville (1 October 2016) |
|
← 2015–16 2017–18 →
All statistics correct as of 3 December 2016. | |
The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the 116th season of the Irish League overall and the fourth season as part of the Northern Ireland Football League. Crusaders are the defending champions. The winner will qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League while the runner-up along with potentially the third placed team and the play-off winners will qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016.[1] The season began on 6 August 2016 and will end in May 2017.
Teams
The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership will consist of 12 teams. Warrenpoint Town were relegated after finishing bottom of the 2015–16 NIFL Premiership and after a failed appeal against an Irish Football Association ruling not to deduct points from Carrick Rangers after their manager incorrectly served a touchline ban.[2] Warrenpoint Town were replaced by Ards as the winners of the 2015–16 NIFL Championship.[3]
Ballinamallard United finished second from bottom but retained their Premiership place after winning the promotion-relegation play-off against NIFL Championship runners-up Institute 5–4 on aggregate.[4] Portadown will start the season on –12 points after an IFA decision due to Portadown unlawfully paying Peter McMahon as a professional despite being contracted to the club as an amateur.[5]
Stadia and locations
| Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity‡[6][7] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards | Clandeboye Park | Bangor | 1,895 (500 seated) |
| Ballinamallard United | Ferney Park | Ballinamallard | 2,000 (250 seated) |
| Ballymena United | The Showgrounds | Ballymena | 3,050 (2,200 seated) |
| Carrick Rangers | Taylors Avenue | Carrickfergus | 4,500 (800 seated) |
| Cliftonville | Solitude | Belfast | 2,530 (all seated) |
| Coleraine | The Showgrounds | Coleraine | 2,496 (1,106 seated) |
| Crusaders | Seaview | Belfast | 3,383 (all seated) |
| Dungannon Swifts | Stangmore Park | Dungannon | 5,000 (300 seated) |
| Glenavon | Mourneview Park | Lurgan | 4,160 (4,000 seated) |
| Glentoran | The Oval | Belfast | 6,054 (4,989 seated) |
| Linfield | Windsor Park | Belfast | 18,000 (all seated) |
| Portadown | Shamrock Park | Portadown | 3,940 (2,765 seated) |
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crusaders | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 42 | 17 | +25 | 44 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Linfield | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 45 | 13 | +32 | 39 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 19 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 34 | 20 | +14 | 38 | Qualification to Europa League play-offs[lower-alpha 2] |
| 4 | Ballymena United | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 33 | |
| 5 | Coleraine | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 30 | |
| 6 | Glenavon | 18 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 29 | 25 | +4 | 26 | |
| 7 | Dungannon Swifts | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 32 | 26 | +6 | 24 | |
| 8 | Glentoran | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 27 | −9 | 23 | |
| 9 | Ards | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 27 | 32 | −5 | 21 | |
| 10 | Ballinamallard United | 18 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 19 | 40 | −21 | 12 | |
| 11 | Carrick Rangers | 19 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 15 | 42 | −27 | 12 | Qualification to Promotion/relegation play-off |
| 12 | Portadown[lower-alpha 3] | 19 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 38 | −27 | −1 | Relegation to 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[9]
Notes:
Results
Matches 1–22
During matches 1–22 each team will play every other team twice (home and away).
| Home ╲ Away | ARD | BMD | BYM | CRK | CLI | COL | CRU | DUN | GLA | GLT | LIN | POR |
| Ards | 3–3 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | ||
| Ballinamallard United | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | ||||
| Ballymena United | 3–4 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 1–4 | 2–0 | ||
| Carrick Rangers | 3–3 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | |||
| Cliftonville | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | a | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | ||
| Coleraine | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | |||
| Crusaders | 1–0 | 5–1 | 6–0 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | ||
| Dungannon Swifts | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 6–0 | |||
| Glenavon | 1–0 | 0–1 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | ||
| Glentoran | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | ||
| Linfield | 4–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | a | 4–1 | ||
| Portadown | 0–3† | 2–1 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–5 |
Updated to games played on 3 December 2016.
Source: NIFL Premiership
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.
^† Match awarded 3–0 to Ards due to Portadown fielding a suspended player; original result was Portadown 3–1 Ards.[10]
Matches 23–33
During matches 23–33 each team will play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
Source: NIFL Premiership
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.
Matches 34–38
During matches 34–38 each team will play every other team in their half of the table once. As this will be the fourth time that teams play each other this season, home sides will be chosen so that they will have played each other twice at home and twice away.
Section A
Source: NIFL Premiership |
Section B
Source: NIFL Premiership |
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
- As of 18 October 2016
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[11] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jordan Owens |
Crusaders | 8 |
| 2 | Andrew Mitchell |
Dungannon Swifts | 7 |
| 3 | Aaron Burns |
Linfield | 6 |
| Cathair Friel |
Ballymena United | 6 | |
| Paul Heatley |
Crusaders | 6 | |
| Adam Lecky |
Ballinamallard United | 6 | |
| 7 | Jay Donnelly |
Cliftonville | 5 |
| Tony Kane |
Ballymena United | 5 | |
References
- ↑ "2016-17 SEASON FIXTURES RELEASED". nifootballleague.com. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ↑ "Warrenpoint Town relegated after appeal dismissed". BBC Sport. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- ↑ "IRISH LEAGUE: Ards promoted to Danske Bank Premiership". News Letter. 30 April 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- ↑ "Irish Premiership play-off: Late Mallards goal secures aggregate win". BBC Sport. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- ↑ "Portadown down 12 points in Danske Bank Premiership season following IFA fine". Belfast Telegraph. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "Portadown handed 12-point deduction for next season over Peter McMahon case - BBC Sport". BBC Online. BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ↑ "Premiership 2016/2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ↑ "Portadown forfeit match against Ards". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ↑ "FIFA NI Premiership top scorers". Retrieved 11 August 2016.