2007–08 Irish Premier League

Irish Premier League 2007–08 Linfield48th Irish title Armagh CityDonegal CelticLarneLimavady UnitedPortadown UEFA Champions League Linfield UEFA Cup CliftonvilleGlentoran UEFA Intertoto Cup Lisburn Distillery Peter Thompson (29 goals) Glenavon 5–0 Armagh CityLinfield 5–0 CrusadersLinfield 5–0 Newry CityLisburn Distillery 5–0 Limavady United Armagh City 0–5 Glentoran Dungannon Swifts 4–6 Newry City 240 698 2006–07 2008–09 UK Northern Ireland right 350 Location of teams in the 2007–08 Irish Premier League UK Northern Ireland 12 54.602945 -5.891278 Belfast top UK Northern Ireland 54.34349 -6.628479 bottom Armagh City UK Northern Ireland 54.87016 -6.265211 top Ballymena United UK Northern Ireland 55.13287 -6.659904 bottom Coleraine UK Northern Ireland 54.489581 -6.745935 top Dungannon Swifts UK Northern Ireland 54.453889 -6.336389 top Glenavon UK Northern Ireland 54.97574 -7.277176 left Institute UK Northern Ireland 54.85013 -5.827303 top Larne UK Northern Ireland 55.051750 -6.936958 bottom Limavady United UK Northern Ireland 54.53607 -6.003814 right Lisburn Distillery UK Northern Ireland 54.16089 -6.332138 bottom Newry City UK Northern Ireland 54.41306 -6.457686 right Portadown UK Northern Ireland 55.32 -8.2 TransparentPlaceholder.png Belfast teams : CliftonvilleCrusadersDonegal CelticGlentoranLinfield Greater Belfast 350 right Location of the Belfast-based teams in the 2007–08 Irish Premier League Greater Belfast 54.619250 -5.947383 left Cliftonville Greater Belfast 54.62428 -5.922017 top Crusaders Greater Belfast 54.573711 -6.023605 top Donegal Celtic Greater Belfast 54.60270 -5.893478 right Glentoran Greater Belfast 54.57083 -5.963302 bottom Linfield The 2007–08 Irish Premier League was the 107th edition of the Irish League, the highest level of league competition in Northern Irish football, and the 5th and final edition in its current format (as the Irish Premier League) since its inception in 2003. Linfield won the league for the 48th time and 3rd consecutive season. Summary This was the last season of the competition before the league system in Northern Ireland was restructured. The 2008–09 competition onwards would be re-branded as the IFA Premiership, with stricter rules governing the eligibility of clubs wishing to take part. The top tier of the Northern Irish league system would also be reduced in size from sixteen clubs, to twelve. The season began on 22 September 2007, and ended on 26 April 2008. Linfield were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title, winning their 48th title by 3 points. Five teams were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship for the following season. League table main WDL QR LIN Linfield GLT Glentoran CLI Cliftonville LIS Lisburn Distillery POR Portadown BYM Ballymena United CRU Crusaders NEW Newry City COL Coleraine DUN Dungannon Swifts DGC Donegal Celtic GLA Glenavon LRN Larne INS Institute LIM Limavady United ARM Armagh City 23 5 2 71 18 C 22 5 3 69 24 18 6 6 55 32 17 7 6 50 28 15 2 13 44 39 12 8 10 42 41 12 7 11 45 47 13 4 13 45 52 11 7 12 41 50 9 9 12 38 44 9 8 13 39 47 9 3 18 37 51 7 4 19 44 71 5 8 17 23 41 6 5 19 26 57 R 5 6 19 29 56 R green1 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round CL1 blue1 Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round UC1 UC1 #CCCCFF Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round IC1 red2 Outside relegation zone, but failed to qualify for IFA Premiership AR AR AR red1 Relegation to IFA Championship R R 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. complete rsssf.com Results Each team played every other team twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games. main FBR grey ARM BYM CLI COL CRU DGC DUN GLA GLT INS LRN LIM LIN LIS NEW POR Armagh City 1–2 0–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–5 1–1 2–5 1–0 1–3 4–1 1–2 1–1 Ballymena United 2–1 0–1 2–0 2–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 2–1 3–0 3–0 0–4 2–2 2–1 2–1 Cliftonville 2–1 3–2 1–2 0–1 5–1 2–1 3–3 4–2 2–0 1–1 4–1 2–2 2–2 2–0 2–1 Coleraine 2–0 1–1 0–3 3–3 3–2 2–2 0–1 1–4 2–1 4–1 1–0 1–4 1–4 0–1 1–1 Crusaders 1–1 3–0 1–1 3–4 2–0 1–0 2–1 0–2 1–0 4–1 2–1 0–3 1–3 4–1 0–2 Donegal Celtic 3–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 3–0 3–1 2–0 3–3 0–1 4–3 3–1 1–1 1–2 2–3 0–1 Dungannon Swifts 5–1 2–1 1–0 4–1 1–1 0–0 1–4 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–2 4–0 0–3 4–6 0–3 Glenavon 5–0 1–2 1–2 1–0 0–4 0–1 1–2 1–2 2–0 2–3 0–3 0–2 2–3 1–0 0–3 Glentoran 1–0 2–4 2–1 2–1 3–0 5–1 1–1 3–0 4–0 1–0 3–0 1–0 2–2 2–1 3–1 Institute 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–0 3–1 1–1 1–0 2–3 1–2 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–2 Larne 0–2 2–1 1–2 1–2 0–3 4–2 3–3 3–4 0–3 1–2 2–2 1–5 1–2 3–0 1–2 Limavady United 0–3 3–1 3–1 0–0 1–2 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–3 0–4 1–2 1–3 0–2 Linfield 2–1 1–0 0–0 4–0 5–0 2–0 2–1 3–2 0–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 2–1 5–0 1–0 Lisburn Distillery 1–0 0–2 1–2 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 0–0 2–0 5–0 0–0 1–0 1–0 Newry City 3–0 2–2 1–0 0–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 2–1 0–3 2–1 2–2 3–0 0–3 1–4 2–1 Portadown 2–1 2–1 0–2 1–5 2–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–1 5–1 2–0 2–5 0–1 3–2 complete rsssf.com League restructuring From the 2008–09 season onwards, the league system in Northern Ireland was re-structured. It would be renamed as the IFA Premiership, and reduced to twelve teams, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007–08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria as follows. Each applicant club was assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria: Sporting – based on league placings, Irish Cup, League Cup and European performances in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08; with points also awarded for running youth teams, women's teams and community development programmes. Finance – based on solvency, debt management and cash-flow projection. Infrastructure – based on stadium capacity, changing provisions, sanitary facilities, field of play, floodlighting, existence and standard of control room, first aid room, drug testing room and media facilities. Personnel – based on qualification and experience of staff Business planning Attendances Five of this season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership and were relegated to the newly introduced IFA Championship. Of the five teams that missed out, two of them - Armagh City and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence, while Larne did not apply. Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but were ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place. Finally, Portadown also obtained a licence, but were relegated to the IFA Championship as a result of submitting their application for the IFA Premiership 29 minutes past the deadline for consideration.https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/7398872.stm BBC News Portadown out of Premier League 2008-05-13 That left thirteen clubs to be ranked - twelve from this season's Premier League plus Bangor, who had finished fourth in the First Division. Rankings RankClubPointsDivisionNotes1Linfield13392008–09 IFA Premiership2Ballymena United10543Glentoran10164Coleraine9655Cliftonville9456Dungannon Swifts8557Glenavon8288Crusaders8269Lisburn Distillery81510Newry City79611Bangor641Only club from outside this season's Premier League to apply.12Institute63213Donegal Celtic5432008–09 IFA ChampionshipMissed out on the Premiership by one place.–Portadown–Gained Domestic Licence, but Premiership application received past deadline.–Armagh City–Applied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence.–Limavady United–Applied, but failed to gain Domestic Licence.–Larne–Did not apply. Source: BBC Sport References External links Irish Football Club Project Soccerway rsssf Association football Northern Ireland North 1 Category:NIFL Premiership seasons