Northern Ireland
Sports

Many sports are organised on an all-Ireland basis, with a single governing body or team for the whole island. The most notable exception is association football (soccer), which has a separate governing body, league and national team for Northern Ireland.

The Irish Football Association (IFA) serves as the organising body for men's domestic and national association football in Northern Ireland, it is a member of the International Football Association Board which sets the rules for association football. The NIWFA are responsible for women's domestic and national association football in Northern Ireland.

The NIFL Premiership is a professional men's football league which operates at the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football League, the current format has been organised with 12 clubs. The winners will enter the first qualifying round of the Champions League, if they do not progress they will enter the Europa League or Europa Conference League depending on performance. The two runners-up progress to the Europa Conference League with play-offs for another Europa Conference League position. The NLFL Women's Premiership is a professional women's football league which operates at the highest division in Northern Ireland with 10 clubs. The winner qualifies for a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The men's Northern Ireland national football team qualified for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, 1982 FIFA World Cup and 1986 FIFA World Cup, making it to the quarter-finals in 1958 and 1982 and made it the first knockout round in the European Championships in 2016.

The IRFU is the governing body for the sport of Rugby Union on the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). Rugby in Northern Ireland is run within the historic province of Ulster which includes Northern Ireland plus 3 counties from the Republic of Ireland - Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan.

The Ireland national rugby league team has participated in the Emerging Nations Tournament (1995), the Super League World Nines (1996), the World Cup (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2021), European Nations Cup (since 2003) and Victory Cup (2004). The Ireland A rugby league team competes annually in the Amateur Four Nations competition (since 2002) and the St Patrick's Day Challenge (since 1995).

The Ireland cricket team represents both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It is a full member of the International Cricket Council, having been granted Test status and full membership by the ICC in June 2017. The side competes in Test cricket, the highest level of competitive cricket in the international arena, and is one of the 12 full-member countries of the ICC. Ireland men's side has played in the Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup and has won the ICC Intercontinental Cup four times. The women's side has played in the Women's World Cup. One of the men's side's regular international venues is Stormont in Belfast.

The governing body for golf on the island of Ireland is Golf Ireland, it is the successor to the Golfing Union of Ireland, governing body for men's and boy's amateur golf, and the oldest golfing union in the world, which was founded in Belfast in 1891, and the Irish Ladies Golf Union. Northern Ireland's golf courses include the Royal Belfast Golf Club (the earliest, formed in 1881), Royal Portrush Golf Club, which is the only course outside Great Britain to have hosted The Open Championship, and Royal County Down Golf Club (Golf Digest magazine's top-rated course outside the United States). Northern Ireland had three major champions in the space of just 14 months from the U.S. Open in 2010 to The Open Championship in 2011. Notable golfers include Fred Daly (winner of The Open in 1947), Ryder Cup players Ronan Rafferty and David Feherty, leading European Tour professionals David Jones, Michael Hoey (a five-time winner on the tour) and Gareth Maybin, as well as three recent major winners Graeme McDowell (winner of the U.S. Open in 2010, the first European to do so since 1970), Rory McIlroy (winner of four majors) and Darren Clarke (winner of The Open in 2011). Northern Ireland has also contributed several players to the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team, including Alan Dunbar and Paul Cutler who played on the victorious 2011 team in Scotland. Dunbar also won The Amateur Championship in 2012, at Royal Troon.
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