League Cup

About League Cup

History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Northern Ireland League Cup, also known as the NIFL Cup or simply the Irish League Cup, is a national football knockout cup competition in Northern Ireland. This tournament, which sits behind the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup in terms of domestic prestige, began in 1987 but was taken over by the Northern Ireland Football League in 2013. This competition is open to all 36 Northern Ireland Football League clubs. The 16 highest-ranked teams from the previous season's league standings (all 12 NIFL Premiership sides and the top four NIFL Championship outfits) are given byes to the second round and are also seeded for that stage. Of the remaining 20 NIFL clubs, eight are randomly drawn to face off in the first round while the remaining 12 become unseeded teams for the second round.