Irish Football
The Republic of Ireland’s league system has 12 tiers, with the League of Ireland being the top two tiers in the country and a mixture of professional and semi pro teams. The League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland First division are the top two leagues, respectively.
The FAI Cup was initiated to become the premier tournament of Ireland when it declared independence from the UK and takes place annually. It involves both teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. There is also the President of Ireland’s Cup which takes place between the Premier Division winner and the FAI Cup winners.
The League of Ireland – Promotion and Relegation
The Premier Division features 10 teams and the team that finishes top is the champion whilst that finishes bottom is automatically relegated to the First Division. The team in second bottom enters a playoff with the team in second place in the First Division in order to stay in the league.
The winner of the First Division is awarded automatic promotion whilst the second-place team must enter the aforementioned playoff in order to earn themselves a place at Ireland’s top footballing table.
There is no formal relegation process to the 3rd tier of Irish football, but teams can be invited to join if they are deemed to be competitive enough. Conversely if a team is not competitive enough, they can leave the league.
European Qualification
The team who wins the league qualify for the second qualifying round of the Champions League, and due to the low EUFA coefficient ranking they are the only team in Europe’s top competition. There are also 3 spots available for the inaugural Europa Conference league to the 2nd and 3rd place teams and the winner of the FAI Cup or 4th place if the Cup winners have already qualified.
FAI Cup
The FAI Cup features the top 40 teams in the country, which is determined by the division they are playing in. This ensures that the Cup contains a mixture of different level teams but the gulf in quality is not so big so that the games are uncompetitive.
Shamrock Rovers have won the competition 25 times since its inception and sit way out in front as the most successful team of all time. Dundalk are their nearest challengers with just 11 and Shelbourne and Bohemians are joint third on 7.
Most Domestic League Titles
The most successful league teams in Ireland are a very similar story to the most successful Cup teams, with Shamrock Rovers again way out in front with 18. Dundalk are again second with 14 and Shelbourne are 3rd with 13.