NIFL Charity Shield
{{short description|Association football cup in Northern Ireland}}
{{Infobox football tournament
| name = NIFL Charity Shield
| founded = 1992
| region = {{nowrap|Northern Ireland}}
| number of teams = 2
| current champions = Larne (2024)
| most successful club ={{nowrap|Linfield – 4 titles
(3 outright, 1 shared)}}
| website = [http://nifootballleague.com/ NI Football League]
| current =
}}
The Northern Ireland Football League Charity Shield is the national association football super cup in Northern Ireland. It has been held on an occasional basis since its inauguration in 1992. It pits together the previous campaign's NIFL Premiership champions and Irish Cup winners, providing the opening match of the Irish League season.
Larne are the current holders, after they defeated Cliftonville 2–1 in the 2024 edition to win the competition for the first time.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cl4y355lgv5o|title=Larne come from behind to win Charity Shield|publisher=BBC Sport|date=5 July 2024|accessdate=5 July 2024}}
Sponsorship
McEwan's Lager sponsored the competition between 1992 and 1994, and Wilkinson Sword were sponsors from 1998 until 2000, both of whom also sponsored other competitions in Irish League football. The proceeds from the 2014 and 2015 editions were donated to the Northern Ireland Hospice.{{cite web|url=http://nifootballleague.com/danske-bank-premiership/news/item/ni-football-league-charity-shield|title=NI FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHARITY SHIELD|date=25 June 2014|work=nifootballleague.com|access-date=29 June 2014}}
Format
The Shield is held in early August as a single match. In the 1992 and 1993 editions, the trophy was shared between the two competing sides for six months when both matches finished level at full-time. However, the rules were later changed to ensure an outright winner. In the 2014 edition, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner when the match ended level after 90 minutes, without extra time being played.
Results
Key:
| class="toccolours" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; margin: left;" |
| style="background:#FBCEB1; text-align: center;"|{{&}}
|Title was shared after match finished in a draw |
| style="background:#cedff2; text-align: center;"|pens.
|Scores level after extra time. A penalty shootout was required to determine the winner. |
Performance by club
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Team
! Wins ! Years ! Runner-up | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Linfield | 4 (1 shared) | 1993 (shared), 1994, 2000, 2017 | 2022 |
| Crusaders | 2 | 2022, 2023 | 2015, 2016 |
| Cliftonville | 2 | 1998, 2014 | 2024 |
| Glentoran | 2 (1 shared) | 1992 (shared), 2015 | 1998, 1999, 2000 |
| Glenavon | 2 (1 shared) | 1992 (shared), 2016 | — |
| Larne | 1 | 2024 | 2023 |
| Portadown | 1 | 1999 | — |
| Bangor | 1 (shared) | 1993 (shared) | 1994 |
| Ballymena United | — | — | 2014 |
| Coleraine | — | — | 2017 |
External links
- [http://home.online.no/~smogols/ifcp/archive/charityshield/charityshield.htm Charity Shield Archive at the Irish Football Club Project]
- [https://www.irishleaguearchive.org/northern-ireland Irish League Archive - Charity Shield]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Football in Northern Ireland}}
{{Association football cup competitions in Ireland}}
{{National football Supercups (UEFA region)}}
Category:National association football supercups
Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1992
Category:Association football cup competitions in Northern Ireland