The NI Football League would like to update supporters on the status of the 2020/21 NIFL Championship and Premier Intermediate League competitions.

 The outstanding appeal in respect of the conclusion of the 2019/20 Championship season, which also impacts the Premier Intermediate League, remains under the consideration of the IFA Appeals Board. The IFA Appeals Board have today confirmed that they anticipate that a decision in respect of this appeal will be announced at the beginning of next week (w/c 12 October 2020).

 The above timeline is currently outside of the control of the NI Football League, but we can advise the following provisional start date information.

Championship

As a consequence of the above, the NIFL Board have confirmed a new provisional start date for the NIFL Championship as Saturday 24 October 2020.

Premier Intermediate League

It is more difficult to confirm a start date for the Premier Intermediate League as clubs are due to commence their Irish Cup campaign on 17 October 2020 with the following weeks in October and November taken up by further rounds of the Irish Cup and/or Divisional Association Cup dates. For Season 2020/21 the NI Football League will release PIL fixtures on a more flexible basis to provide fixtures for those clubs who have been knocked out in the early rounds of the National/Divisional Cup competitions.