2016–17 NIFL Premiership
| Season | 2016–17 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 August 2016 – TBC |
| Matches played | 198 |
| Goals scored | 581 (2.93 per match) |
| Biggest home win |
Crusaders 6–0 Ballymena United (6 August 2016) Dungannon Swifts 6–0 Portadown (8 October 2016) |
| Biggest away win |
Portadown 0–5 Linfield (26 November 2016) Portadown 0–5 Glentoran (3 January 2017) |
| Highest scoring |
Ballymena United 3–4 Ards (20 August 2016) Crusaders 4–3 Cliftonville (1 October 2016) Ballymena United 3–4 Glenavon (3 January 2017) |
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← 2015–16
2017–18 →
All statistics correct as of 25 March 2017.
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The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership (known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the 116th season of the Irish League overall and the fourth season as part of the Northern Ireland Football League. Crusaders are the defending champions. The winner will qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League while the runner-up along with potentially the third placed team and the play-off winners will qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. The season began on 6 August 2016 and will end in May 2017.
The 2016–17 NIFL Premiership will consist of 12 teams. Warrenpoint Town were relegated after finishing bottom of the 2015–16 NIFL Premiership and after a failed appeal against an Irish Football Association ruling not to deduct points from Carrick Rangers after their manager incorrectly served a touchline ban. Warrenpoint Town were replaced by Ards as the winners of the 2015–16 NIFL Championship.
Ballinamallard United finished second from bottom but retained their Premiership place after winning the promotion-relegation play-off against NIFL Championship runners-up Institute 5–4 on aggregate.Portadown will start the season on –12 points after an IFA decision due to Portadown unlawfully paying Peter McMahon as a professional despite being contracted to the club as an amateur.
During matches 1–22 each team will play every other team twice (home and away).
During matches 23–33 each team will play every other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
During matches 34–38 each team will play every other team in their half of the table once. As this will be the fourth time that teams play each other this season, home sides will be chosen so that they will have played each other twice at home and twice away.
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