The First Division is a men’s league competition in Ireland, formed in 1985, with recorded coverage from the 2019 season to the 2025 season. Use this page to follow live scores, fixtures, results and standings, alongside player and team statistics, offering a clear reference for each of the competition’s seven recorded seasons.
Upcoming matches, First Division
Regular Season - 32
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- Regular Season - 32
Bray Wanderers
Treaty United
Carlisle Grounds -
- Regular Season - 32
Cork City
UCD
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- Regular Season - 32
Finn Harps
Longford Town
Finn Park -
- Regular Season - 32
Wexford
Cobh Ramblers
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- Regular Season - 32
Athlone Town
Kerry
Athlone Town Stadium
Regular Season - 33
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- Regular Season - 33
Kerry
Wexford
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- Regular Season - 33
Cobh Ramblers
Athlone Town
-
- Regular Season - 33
Treaty United
Finn Harps
Markets Field
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- Regular Season - 33
UCD
Bray Wanderers
UCD Bowl
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- Regular Season - 33
Longford Town
Cork City
Latest played matches, First Division
Regular Season - 31
Regular Season - 30
First Division Standings
| Rank | Club | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Last 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Cork City | 31 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 64 | 29 | 35 | 68 | LDWDW |
| 2 |
|
UCD | 31 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 55 | 40 | 15 | 49 | DDWDW |
| 3 |
|
Bray Wanderers | 31 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 59 | 44 | 15 | 47 | WDLLW |
| 4 |
|
Cobh Ramblers | 31 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 38 | 43 | -5 | 45 | WDDWW |
| 5 |
|
Kerry | 31 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 39 | 36 | 3 | 42 | LWWDL |
| 6 |
|
Longford Town | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 41 | LLDWL |
| 7 |
|
Athlone Town | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 33 | 36 | -3 | 41 | DWWWW |
| 8 |
|
Wexford | 31 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 34 | 46 | -12 | 37 | LWLLL |
| 9 |
|
Treaty United | 31 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 31 | 45 | -14 | 33 | WLLDL |
| 10 |
|
Finn Harps | 31 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 29 | 63 | -34 | 25 | WLLLL |
First Division Statistics
Top scorers 2026
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|
Top assists 2026
| # | Player | Assists |
|---|
Top key passes
Top tackles
Top yellow cards
Top red cards
First Division teams participation since 2019
History
| Team | Nb participations |
|---|---|
| Athlone Town | 7 |
| Bray Wanderers | 7 |
| Cobh Ramblers | 7 |
| Wexford | 7 |
| Longford Town | 6 |
| Galway United | 5 |
| Treaty United | 5 |
| UCD | 4 |
| Cork City | 3 |
| Finn Harps | 3 |
| Cabinteely | 3 |
| Shelbourne | 3 |
| Kerry | 3 |
| Waterford | 2 |
| Drogheda United | 2 |
| Dundalk | 1 |
| Limerick | 1 |
| Shamrock Rovers II | 1 |
First Division top scorer teams
First Division About
First Division is a men’s league competition in Ireland, officially branded the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division and also known as the League of Ireland First Division or Irish First Division. It is the second tier of professional association football in the Republic of Ireland, directly below the Premier Division, and is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
Role in Irish football
Established in 1985, the First Division helped create a national two-tier league structure in Ireland. Its central purpose is to provide a competitive platform for clubs and players developing outside the top flight while offering a clear sporting route into the Premier Division. The competition is primarily made up of clubs from the Republic of Ireland, although its history also includes cross-border participation, most notably Derry City from Northern Ireland.
As the second level of the national professional game, the division combines the demands of a full league season with the pressure of promotion play-offs. This makes it both a development environment and a high-stakes competition: clubs must build consistent form across the regular season while retaining the capacity to perform in decisive late-season fixtures.
Xtra-Stats records the competition from the 2019 season through 2025, covering seven recorded seasons. The first recorded match in that data set took place on 21 February 2020. The competition is classified as a men’s league and follows Ireland’s summer-football calendar, generally running from February until October or November.
Governance, licensing and access
The FAI oversees the competition’s principal sporting and regulatory arrangements, including fixture scheduling, disciplinary matters and participation requirements. Clubs entering the division must meet annual licensing standards covering areas such as stadium and infrastructure provision, financial stability, legal compliance and player-development obligations. These requirements are intended to support a sustainable professional league and to ensure that clubs progressing through the pyramid are equipped for the demands of the higher division.
The First Division has historically operated without a conventional automatic relegation route to a lower national tier. A planned restructuring for 2026–27 is intended to introduce a third tier, the FAI National League, and automatic relegation for the club finishing bottom of the First Division. That reform represents a change from the arrangement applying across the recorded seasons through 2025 and should not be read back into earlier editions.
League format and promotion route
The competition uses a single-table round-robin format rather than groups. With the usual field of 10 clubs, each team plays every other club four times—twice at home and twice away—for 36 regular-season matches. Fixtures are arranged by the FAI, so there is no group-stage draw or group-based seeding.
Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat. The league table therefore rewards sustained performance over the full schedule, but the final standings also determine access to the promotion play-offs. The champions earn automatic promotion to the Premier Division. Clubs finishing from second to fifth enter the promotion play-off series.
The play-off structure begins with two-legged semi-finals: second place faces fifth, while third place faces fourth. The winners then meet in a one-legged First Division Final at a neutral venue. The play-off winner must complete one further step before reaching the top flight by facing the club that finishes ninth in the Premier Division in a single-leg promotion/relegation final. Consequently, the title is not the only route to advancement, but the champion enjoys the most direct path.
Rules and determining positions
League matches follow the standard Laws of the Game. Where teams finish level on points, the supplied competition framework places goal difference first, followed by goals scored, head-to-head results and disciplinary record. These criteria can be especially important when deciding the championship, play-off places or other strategically significant positions in a closely contested table.
In the two-legged semi-finals, the team with the superior aggregate score progresses. If the relevant score remains level after the tie, extra time and, if required, a penalty shoot-out determine the winner. The same principle applies to a drawn single-leg play-off or promotion/relegation final after 90 minutes. These rules give the post-season fixtures a distinctly knockout character after the longer league campaign.
Calendar and sporting importance
The First Division is played within Ireland’s spring-to-autumn football cycle, usually beginning in February and reaching its decisive stages in the autumn. This summer-soccer calendar reflects the established structure of League of Ireland football and helps clubs plan around local conditions, domestic scheduling and the wider international calendar.
For clubs, promotion brings entry to the Premier Division, greater national visibility and the opportunity to compete at the highest level of Irish domestic football. The First Division therefore serves two connected purposes: it sustains competitive professional football across Ireland and provides the principal league pathway for clubs seeking to establish themselves in the country’s top tier.