Irish Football has taken a page out of the English FA’s book to expand the domestic football pyramid. The long awaited third tier of the Men’s game in Ireland will create a clearer path from grassroots football to the top tier of Ireland and beyond.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have announced the FAI National League, a brand new third tier of Irish men’s football. The FAI made the announcement on Thursday afternoon via X and other social media platforms, ending long-term speculation that a third tier of the League of Ireland has been in the works.
The new FAI National League will be split into two geographical divisions, entitled ‘North’ and ‘South’, in a pyramid style system mirroring the successful system used in England. For the first time in Irish Men's football, teams will be able to smoothly earn promotion and be relegated between three divisions, with the new third tier being below the Men’s First Division which had previously been the bottom tier, sitting behind the Men’s Premier Division.
The FAI described it as “A direct connection between grassroots and professional football for the first time in Ireland".
A press release put out by the FAI confirmed teams in the new league will first play other teams in their respective geographical division, before “top teams from North and South will compete for a chance to be promoted to the LOI Men’s First Division”. The FAI National League is set to begin in August 2026, in a shorter style league before having its first full season beginning in 2027. The new division will line up with the top division’s calendar year based schedule, a schedule which will also soon be implemented in underage Irish football, a decision which was made at last week’s FAI AGM. Previously, many underage leagues had a schedule based on the school calendar.
The FAI is looking for clubs to express their interest in joining the new division, with a deadline set for 21 February 2025. The FAI will review applications and “meet with potential teams to share more information and answer any questions the club may have”. The announcement will come as welcome news to many clubs outside of the top two tiers, as up until now clubs were only included in the Men’s First Division on an as-needed basis, which has seen a number of clubs be rejected in the last number of years.
Interestingly, a graphic posted to social media by the FAI appears to show that the new division will not be sponsored by SSE Airtricity, who sponsor both the Men’s Premier Division and Men’s First Division. A video posted by the same account shortly after that graphic also quoted the new league as “sitting directly below the League of Ireland”, rather than it being a third tier of the League of Ireland. The video also stated that teams included in the FAI National League will earn automatic qualification to the FAI Cup.
The announcement overall received a positive reaction online, with many seeing this as a step in the right direction for Irish football. However, a stand out feature of many of the comments was the insistence that ‘B Teams’ were not permitted to compete.
This follows inclusion of Shamrock Rovers II in the 2020 League of Ireland First Division, a move which was met with poor reaction from rival fans.
FAI Chief Football Officer Marc Canham said “This is the first stage of the creation of a new FAI National League and is an exciting moment for Irish Football”. He continued later in the press release by saying, “The New FAI National League provides a clear pathway and progression from the Amateur game to the League of Ireland and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to develop our Irish football pyramid now and in the future”.
The announcement of this new third tier comes during a busy week for Irish Football. An FAI Statement on Wednesday confirmed that Eileen Gleeson had not been offered a new contract as Head Coach of the Ireland Women’s National Team following last week’s European Championships Playoff defeat against Cymru. Gleeson originally took over in August 2023, following Vera Pauw’s departure.
FAI CEO David Courell sail, “Eileen has long been a terrific ambassador for women and girls’ football in Ireland and she leaves behind a positive impact on our Women’s National League that included an excellent UEFA Nations League campaign, a memorable win over France in Cork and a run to the Play-Offs for Euro 2025. We thank Eileen for everything that she has done”. The process of recruiting a new Head Coach has already begun.
Other big stories within the FAI this week include the World Cup Qualifiers draw for the Men’s National Team which took place on Friday morning, and the announcement of a new, cheaper LOI TV.
LOI TV is the League of Ireland’s domestic streaming service, and this year will be available on its own app at the annual pass price of €99, down from last year’s price of €120. The service allows you to stream every game in the top two divisions of Men’s football and the top division of Women’s football.