 | |
| Organiser(s) | Northern Ireland Football League |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Region |  Northern Ireland |
| Teams | 38 |
| Current champions | Cliftonville (7th Titles) (2024–25) |
| Most championships | Linfield (12 Titles) |
 2025–26 season | |
TheNorthern Ireland Football League Cup (known as theBetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as theIrish League Cup) is a nationalfootballknock-out cup competition inNorthern Ireland open to all member clubs of theNorthern Ireland Football League. It is the third-most prestigious competition in domesticNorthern Irishfootball after theNIFL Premiership andIrish Cup. Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup does not have a berth forUEFA Conference League qualification. The cup has been operated by the Northern Ireland Football League since the 2013–14 season when it took over the administration from theIrish Football Association (IFA), after which the cup was renamed to the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup.[1]
Since the 2017–18 season, the Cup has been sponsored by McLean Bookmakers.[2] The competition's previous sponsors are JBE (2015–16),[3] WASP Solutions (2013–14 and 2014–15),[4]Irn Bru (2011–12 and 2012–13),[5]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).
Cliftonville are the holders. They defeatedGlentoran 1–0 after extra time in the final on 9 March 2025 to lift the cup for the seventh time.
Unlike theIrish Cup, the League Cup is restricted to the 38Northern Ireland Football League clubs competing in theNIFL Premiership,NIFL Championship, andNIFL Premier Intermediate League. All rounds of the competition use aknock-out system consisting of one-legged ties. In the event that the scores are level after 90 minutes, extra time is played, and if the teams are still level after 120 minutes there is apenalty shoot-out.
The 14 NIFL Premier Intermediate League clubs enter the preliminary round draw, with 12 of them being drawn to face each other in six ties and the remaining two clubs receiving byes. The six preliminary round winners and the two clubs that received byes then join the 24 NIFL Premiership and Championship clubs in the first round. The 16 highest-ranked clubs from the previous season's league system are then seeded in the first round to avoid drawing each other. The first round is the only round of the competition in which seeding is used. From there on the competition uses an open draw with a standard knock-out format, consisting of the second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.
The competition began with 32 clubs in a straight knock-out format in February 1987, and included teams from theIrish League B Division until 1997–98. From 1998–99 until 2007–08, only senior (Irish League and Irish Premier League) teams competed, but the competition was opened up to the 17Championship clubs in 2008–09, and again in 2010–11 to include clubs from Championship 2, after the Championship 2 League Cup was abolished. From 2001–02 until 2007–08, a group stage followed by a knock-out system was used instead of the straight knock-out system, and for two seasons (2008–09 and 2009–10) two-legged home and away aggregate ties were used up until the quarter-finals, instead of single matches.
When it was first introduced in the 1986–87 season, it was one of a number of senior cup competitions run by the Irish League, originally to compensate for the relatively few league fixtures (traditionally 22 or 26), but also as vehicles for sponsorship revenue. The League Cup would have been considered less prestigious than the long-standingGold Cup andUlster Cup. Over time however, these other cup competitions were phased out as the number ofIrish League fixtures increased and the public appetite for additional competitions reduced, leaving the League Cup as the only cup competition run by theNorthern Ireland Football League and now established as the third most prestigious competition inNorthern Ireland after the national top-flight and national cup. The actual trophy presented to the winners is the oldCity Cup, which was another senior Irish League competition that was discontinued in 1975.
The first final took place on 9 May 1987 atGlentoran's ground, theOval, and was contested byLinfield andCrusaders. Linfield became the inaugural winners of the cup, defeating Crusaders 2–1. Since then, Linfield have been the most successful club in the competition, winning the Cup a record 12 times overall in a record 15 final appearances - their three final defeats all coming againstBig Two rivals Glentoran. The most common final has indeed been the Big Two derby, which has occurred seven times - the last of which came in2005–06. The1988–89 final, played between the two sides at theOval on 11 November 1988 was won courtesy of a goal by Glentoran goalkeeper Alan Patterson, via a kick from his own penalty area. This was the first time that agoalkeeper had ever scored in aBritish football final.[6]
Cliftonville hold the record for the most consecutive wins with four between 2013 and 2016. Fifteen different clubs have reached the final, but only twelve clubs have gone on to win the cup - and only six of those have won the cup more than once.Carrick Rangers (once), along withLarne andNewry City (twice each) are the only three clubs to have played in the final but never won the Cup. Conversely, three clubs have a 100% record in the final, lifting the cup in their sole final appearance to date:Bangor in1992–93,Lisburn Distillery in2010–11, andDungannon Swifts in2017–18. In2008–09,Championship sidePortadown became the firstintermediate club and the first club from outside the top flight to reach the final, and subsequently to win the cup, after defeating Premiership side Newry City 1–0. That was also the first final to be played outside Belfast, withMourneview Park,Lurgan hosting the match. It was attended byUEFA PresidentMichel Platini and Northern Ireland managerNigel Worthington who was in Northern Ireland for theFIFA meeting held inNewcastle.
The biggest winning margin ever recorded in a final is 4–0, which has occurred twice: in1999–2000 when Linfield defeatedColeraine, and in2012–13 whenCliftonville defeated Crusaders. On four occasions, the same two clubs have met in consecutive finals. Linfield and Glentoran have done so three times:1997–98 &1998–99,2001–02 &2002–03 and2004–05 &2005–06, while Cliftonville and Crusaders repeated the feat in2012–13 and2013–14. Both clubs agreed to toss a coin for home advantage in the 2013–14 final, with Cliftonville winning the toss. As a result,Solitude was chosen as the final venue for the first time in the competition's history.[7]
In the2015–16 competition,Cliftonville became the first club ever to reach four consecutive League Cup finals, and subsequently to win four consecutive Cups, after they defeatedArds 3–0 in the final.[8]Ards were appearing in the final for the third time overall, and became only the second club from outside the top flight ever to reach the League Cup final, emulatingPortadown in2008–09. Ards' previous final appearance had also been against Cliftonville, when they won the Cup 2–0 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in1994–95. Ards also set a record for the longest gap between final appearances of 21 years between 1994–95 and 2015–16. This broke the previous record of 19 years betweenNewry City's appearances in1989–90 and2008–09.
Following a one-year hiatus in which the cup was not played during the 2020–21 season as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland, the competition returned for the2021–22 season, which saw the final being played on a Sunday for the first time in the competition's history. This attracted a League Cup final record crowd of 11,103 at Windsor Park, whereCliftonville won the cup for the sixth time after a 4–3 win over defending championsColeraine in extra time. This also became the highest-scoring final in the cup's history.
The final was initially broadcast as highlights onUTV throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Live coverage of the final first began on theBBC in 2005, and continued untilSky acquired the rights to show the 2013 and 2014 finals onSky Sports as part of a deal to coverNorthern Ireland international matches. Following the 2014 final, it returned to the BBC in 2015 after Sky ceased their coverage of Irish League football. Dungannon Swifts' win in the 2018 final was broadcast live on Sky Sports enabling the entire town of Dungannon to enjoy the historical result, Dungannon winning a major trophy for the first time in their history.[9]
| (a.e.t.) | Match level after 90 minutes. Decided inextra time. |
| (a.e.t.)pens. | Match level after 90 minutes andextra time. Decided by apenalty shootout. |
There have been 38 League Cup finals contested during the competition's history so far, played at six different grounds.Windsor Park has been the most common venue, having hosted 27 finals.
| Venue | Finals hosted | First final | Last final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor Park | 26 | 1989–90 | 2024–25 |
| The Oval | 5 | 1986–87 | 1993–94 |
| Mourneview Park | 2 | 2008–09 | 2010–11 |
| Solitude | 2 | 2013–14 | 2015–16 |
| Ballymena Showgrounds | 1 | 2011–12 | 2011–12 |
| Seaview | 1 | 2016–17 | 2016–17 |
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