The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for football in Northern Ireland. It should not be confused with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), which is the organising body in the Republic of Ireland.

The IFA was formed in 1880 by football clubs in the Belfast area as the organising body for the sport across all of Ireland. A meeting was called by Cliftonville FC of other football clubs that followed the rules set out by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). At that meeting, on November 18 of that year, they formed the IFA. It is the fourth oldest national football association in the world (after those of England, Scotland, and Wales). The first decision they took was to form an annual challenge cup competition similar to the FA Cup and Scottish Cup competitions, called the Irish Cup. Two years later, the Irish national side played its first international against England, losing 13-0 (which remains a record for both teams).

Upon the partition of Ireland, in 1921, the FAIFS (now the FAI) was set up to regulate the game in the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland). Those behind the FAIFS believed that soccer should be regulated by a federation based in the Free State capital Dublin. The IFA's supporters argued that the federation should be based where the game was mainly played: Ulster and its principal city, Belfast. Both federations claimed to represent the whole of the island and both competed as Ireland and both picked players from the two rival leagues, which also split at this time.

Interventions by FIFA effectively favoured the FAI by giving them de jure organising rights over the 26 counties of the Republic. From the 1950s onwards the IFA was no longer to claim it was the federation for the whole of Ireland.

The IFA regulated the game in Northern Ireland, and all results obtained by the Irish national side and records in the Irish Football League and the cup competition stood as Northern Irish records. Therefore, in essence, the IFA as Northern Ireland's organising body is a direct continuation of the IFA as the organising body across all of Ireland.

Along with the other Home Nations' associations (the English FA, the Scottish Football Association, and the Football Association of Wales), the IFA sits on the International Football Association Board, which is responsible for the laws of the game. The IFA continues to have responsibility for the running of the Northern Irish national team.

Famous players

• George Best
• Billy Bingham
• Danny Blanchflower
• Jackie Blanchflower
• Mal Donaghy
• Derek Dougan
• Iain Dowie
• Keith Gillespie
• Bryan Hamilton
• David Healy
• Pat Jennings
• Neil Lennon
• Steve Lomas
• Sammy McIlroy
• Martin O'Neill
• Pat Rice
• Lawrie Sanchez
• Maik Taylor
• Norman Whiteside

References

External links

• Irish FA Website
• Northern Ireland Fans Website

Football in Northern Ireland | Sports governing bodies of the United Kingdom | UEFA

Association irlandaise de football | Ziemeļīrijas Futbola Asociācija | Noord-Ierse voetbalbond | 北愛爾蘭足球協會