New all-island women's soccer competition unveiled

The League of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Football League have jointly announced an all-island competition for women's teams that will begin in June.

Talks between both leagues have been ongoing for some time to create a new competition that will see SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division clubs take on their NIFL Women’s Premiership counterparts during the season break ahead of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

The competition, which is supported by both the FAI and the IFA, will involve 16 teams in total - 11 from the League of Ireland, five from the Northern Ireland Football League - split into four groups of four teams.

Group games will take place on 18 June, 25 June and 2 July. The top teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals, which will be played on 9 July, before the last two meet in the final on 16 July.

Athlone Town, Bohemians, Cork City, DLR Waves, Galway United, Peamount United, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers, Treaty United, Wexford Youths will represent the League of Ireland while Cliftonville, Crusaders, Derry City, Glentoran and Linfield are the Northern Ireland Football League teams.

League of Ireland Director Mark Scanlon believes this competition is a welcome addition to the domestic calendar: "We are looking forward to working with the Northern Ireland Football League to create what should be an exciting new competition that will act as an additional test for our SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division clubs.

"Finding the right time to host these games was always going to be the main obstacle to overcome but we have identified a block in June, when preparations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be ongoing and thankfully our colleagues in the NIFL have been able to work the dates into