| Competition: | IFA Premiership |
| Season: | 2011–12 |
| Winners: | Linfield 3rd Premiership title 51st Irish title |
| Relegated: | Carrick Rangers |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Linfield |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Portadown Cliftonville Crusaders (via Irish Cup) |
| League Topscorer: | Gary McCutcheon (27 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Glentoran 6–1 Carrick Rangers |
| Biggest Away Win: | |
| Matches: | 228 |
| Highest Attendance: | 5,300 Glentoran 1-0 Linfield (Monday 26 December 2011) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 94 Donegal Celtic 3-1 Dungannon Swifts (Tuesday 20 March 2012) |
| Prevseason: | 2010–11 |
| Nextseason: | 2012–13 |
The 2011–12 IFA Premiership (known as the Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the IFA Premiership, the highest level of league football in Northern Ireland, and the 111th season of Irish league football overall.
Linfield were champions, winning the league for the 51st time and the 3rd consecutive season.
The season began on 6 August 2011, and ended on 28 April 2012. Linfield were the defending champions, after winning their 50th title last season.[1] They successfully defended their title, to win the league for the sixth time in seven seasons after a 2–1 home win over Portadown on 7 April 2012.[2]
Carrick Rangers were relegated to Championship 1 after only one season in the top flight. Dungannon Swifts' 2–1 win over Donegal Celtic on 21 April 2012 left them bottom of the table by four points, with only one game remaining. Lisburn Distillery retained their Premiership status by defeating Newry City 3–2 over two legs in the promotion/relegation play-off.[3]
2010–11 IFA Championship 1 winners Carrick Rangers were promoted to this season's Premiership, with last season's bottom-placed Premiership club Newry City replacing them in Championship 1.[4] [5]
Championship 1 runners-up Limavady United were not eligible to take part in a promotion/relegation play-off against last season's 11th-placed Premiership club Donegal Celtic, as they did not attain the required domestic licence.[6]
| Club | Stadium | Location | Capacity[7] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymena United | 1,418 (all seated) | ||||
| Carrick Rangers | 1,977 (663 seats)1 | ||||
| Cliftonville | Belfast | 2,180 (1,878 seats) | |||
| Coleraine | 2,496 (1,106 seats) | ||||
| Crusaders | Belfast | 1,977 (663 seats) | |||
| Donegal Celtic | Belfast | 2,254 (988 seats) | |||
| Dungannon Swifts | 5,000 (600 seats) | ||||
| Glenavon | 5,000 (4,000 seats) | ||||
| Glentoran | Belfast | 5,056 (3,991 seats) | |||
| Linfield | Belfast | 12,342 (all seated) | |||
| Lisburn Distillery | 7,000 (540 seats) | ||||
| Portadown | 2,227 (all seated) |
1 Carrick Rangers played their home matches at Crusaders' Seaview ground.[8]
During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).
During matches 23–33 each team played other team for the third time (either at home, or away).
During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once. As this was the fourth time that teams had played each other this season, home sides in this round were chosen so that teams played each other twice at home and twice away.
Lisburn Distillery, the club that finished in the relegation play-off place, faced Newry City, the runners-up of the 2011–12 IFA Championship in a two-legged tie for a place in next season's IFA Premiership.
Lisburn Distillery won the tie 3–2 on aggregate and retained their Premiership status.
----Lisburn Distillery won 3–2 on aggregate and remained in the IFA Premiership
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals[9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary McCutcheon | Ballymena United | 27 | |
| 2 | Matthew Tipton | Portadown | 24 | |
| 3 | Gary Liggett | Lisburn Distillery | 22 | |
| 4 | Curtis Allen | Coleraine | 20 | |
| 5 | Kevin Braniff | Portadown | 17 | |
| Chris Scannell | Cliftonville | 17 | ||
| 7 | Rory Donnelly | Cliftonville | 13 | |
| 8 | Darren Murray | Donegal Celtic | 12 | |
| David Rainey | Crusaders | 12 | ||
| 10 | Mark McAllister | Linfield | 11 |