Nine days to go until the beginning of the 2020 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division season. The SSE Airtricity League 2020 Season Media Day took place at the National Indoor Arena today as the anticipation for the new campaign continued to build
Nine days to go until the beginning of the 2020 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division season.
The SSE Airtricity League 2020 Season Media Day took place at the National Indoor Arena today as the anticipation for the new campaign continued to build.
The SSE Airtricity League Premier Division 2020 season is set to begin on Friday, February 14. Four fixtures will take place on the opening day with Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers on Saturday, February 15 at 2pm, which will be live on RTÉ 2. A week later, the First Division 2020 season will get underway on Friday, February 21.
RTÉ will broadcast 17 matches this season, with three matches already announced in the opening weeks of the campaign. The Dublin Derby will be followed by Derry City v Finn Harps on Friday, February 21 and Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk on Friday, February 28 live on RTÉ 2.
eirSport will continue their coverage of the league with 15 live matches on their platform and coverage set to begin in March. The first live matches for the broadcaster will be announced in the coming weeks.
The 2020 season marks SSE Airtricity’s 11th year of being the title sponsor of the league. FAI Competitions Director Fran Gavin praised the support SSE Airtricity has shown the domestic game in Ireland.
"The FAI and the SSE Airtricity League would like to thank SSE Airtricity for their fantastic support of the Irish domestic game," said Gavin.
"In their decade as title sponsors of the league, we've seen our domestic game go from strength to strength. The support they've shown from the Premier Division to the under-age leagues has been invaluable and we're grateful to them for their support of grassroots football in Ireland.
"We’re all looking forward to what should be another exciting year of football for the SSE Airtricity League.”
The season curtain-raiser is set to take place this Sunday between SSE Airtricity League Champions Dundalk and Extra.ie FAI Cup Champions Shamrock Rovers in the President's Cup Final, with kick-off at 2pm.
The structure to the First Division promotion/relegation play-off series has been changed for the 2020 season. It will now include the fifth-placed team where they will face the second-placed team and the third & fourth-placed sides also face each other which will see more teams have a chance at promotion.
"Both leagues will be really competitive this year and we look forward to the beginning of the season," Gavin continued.
"Irish football is going through a change at the moment and the SSE Airtricity League is part of that process. The National League Executive Committee is now run by the clubs and we're entering into a new, exciting era for the league.
"The league is set to be more competitive than ever with the extended play-off structure in the First Division and we're looking forward to seeing the action get underway on Friday, February 14."
