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Northern Ireland League Cup

Northern Ireland Football League Cup
BetMcClean.com Cup logo.jpg
Founded 1987
Region Northern Ireland
Number of teams 40
Current champions Ballymena United
(2016–17)
Most successful club(s) Linfield (9 wins)
2017–18

The Northern Ireland Football League Cup, also known as the Irish League Cup, and the BetMcClean.com League Cup is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to the 40 Northern Ireland Football League clubs. It is the third-highest rated competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. It should not be confused with the Irish League Floodlit Cup which ran from 1987–88 to 1997–98 initially under the sponsorship of Budweiser and latterly Coca-Cola. Unlike the Irish Cup, the competition does not have a berth for UEFA Europa League qualification, however the winners qualify for the next season's all-Ireland Setanta Sports Cup. The cup is operated by the Northern Ireland Football League, who in 2013 took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA) for the 2013–14 season onwards, after which the cup was renamed as the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.

From 2017-18, it will be sponsored by McClean Bookmakers and will be called the BetMcClean.com League Cup. The competition's previous sponsors are JBE (2015-16),, WASP Solutions (2013–14 and 2014–15),Irn Bru (2011–12 and 2012–13),Co-operative Insurance (2001–02 to 2010–11), Coca-Cola (1998–99 to 2000–01), Wilkinson Sword (1991–92 to 1997–98), and Roadferry Freight (1986–87 to 1990–91).


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Wikipedia

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