Intermediate
There is one national intermediate league. The IFA Championship has two divisions: Championship 1 and Championship 2. One club is automatically promoted from the Championship to the Premiership at the end of each season, and one club is relegated to the Championship from the Premiership. In addition, there is a play-off between the Championship runners-up and the second-bottom-placed team in the Premiership. In the event, however, that the Championship winners do not possess a domestic licence, there is no automatic promotion and, instead, there is a play-off between the runners-up and the bottom-placed Premiership team. In the event that neither the Championship winners nor the runners-up possess a domestic licence, there is no promotion.
The IFA Reserve League, which is also an intermediate league, comprises the reserve teams of the twelve senior IFA Premiership clubs.
As of 2010-11, a "pyramid" system has been introduced in Northern Ireland, with the possibility of promotion and relegation between the Championship and the four regional intermediate leagues, namely:
- Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League
- Mid-Ulster Football League
- Northern Amateur League
- Northern Ireland Intermediate League
Clubs in these leagues may only gain promotion to the Championship if they win their respective league championship and meet the necessary criteria. In the event that more than one league champion meets the criteria, only one will be promoted, to be decided by a play-off or series of play-offs.
At national level there is one intermediate cup competition: the Intermediate Cup. At regional level, each of the four regional FAs organises its own cup competition. The North East Ulster Football Association runs the Steel & Sons Cup; the Mid-Ulster Football Association organises the Bob Radcliffe Cup; the North West of Ireland Football Association organises the Craig Memorial Cup; and the Fermanagh & Western Football Association organises the Fermanagh & Western Intermediate Cup.
Read more about this topic: Northern Ireland Football League System
Famous quotes containing the word intermediate:
“Complete courage and absolute cowardice are extremes that very few men fall into. The vast middle space contains all the intermediate kinds and degrees of courage; and these differ as much from one another as men’s faces or their humors do.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)