An extraordinary general meeting has been called by the Northern Ireland Football League for Tuesday to try and prevent the new Irish Premiership and Championship seasons being delayed.

In the top tier, Cliftonville’s hosting of Crusaders is due to kick off the opening weekend of the 2026-27 season on Friday, while Strabane Athletic face Institute in the Championship.

But the fall out from a legal challenge involving Banbridge Town and their appeal over the restructuring of the third tier of football in Northern Ireland could prevent the campaign from starting as planned.

Banbridge are one of 10 clubs who will be moved from the Premier Intermediate League [PIL], which was under NIFL’s governance until last season, to the newly formed Conference League which will be run by the Northern Amateur Football League [NAFL].

That decision meant that Banbridge and the other 10 clubs who were not included in the expanded 16-team Championship were no longer NIFL members, which was deemed “unlawful” by the Irish FA’s appeals committee.

It is understood the Northern Ireland Football League has called an EGM with its 47 member clubs on Tuesday to try and resolve the issue.

How likely is it the start of new season will be impacted?

The PIL had been the third tier of NIFL since 2016 and is now set to be replaced by the Conference League, which will be run by NAFL.

As a result, NIFL will only control the top two leagues of Northern Irish football and has now expanded the Championship from 12 to 16 teams.

The top four teams from last season’s PIL – Moy­ola Park, Stra­bane Ath­letic, Rath­fri­land and Newry City – were promoted to the Championship.

But the 10 teams who finished between fifth and bottom of last year’s PIL- Dollingstown, Ballymacash Rangers, Portstewart, Oxford Sunnyside, Dergview, Ballyclare Comrades, Knockbreda, Coagh United, Lisburn Distillery and Banbridge Town – are all set to feature in the inaugural Conference league.

Ballymena & Provincial League champions St. James’ Swifts and Rosario, who came fifth in NAFL’s Premier Division last season, are also due to complete the new 12-team league.

But Banbridge, who finished bottom of the PIL, believed the decision to remove the side from the NIFL structures was “unlawful” and appealed to the Irish Football Association [IFA].

Banbridge argued that NIFL had not followed its own regulations by not previously securing approval from member clubs at an annual general meeting [AGM] or EGM to bring its annual regulations into operation, and their appeal was upheld by the IFA’s appeals committee.

Despite the appeal, NAFL and NIFL have both pushed ahead with their plans to begin the season this weekend.

NIFL has now called an EGM so that clubs can ratify NIFL’s articles, rules and regulations.

An EGM normally requires a 21-day notice period, but it is understood that NIFL will meet with clubs on Tuesday to stop a possible delay to the start of the season.

To push forward with an EGM, 90% of the clubs must agree. That means 43 of the 47 teams which men’s and women’s Premiership clubs, the Championship clubs and those in the Premier Intermediate League last season.

Then, if the meeting goes ahead, 75% of the clubs would have to vote with NIFL.

If an EGM does not take place or the vote does not gain approval, NIFL could continue with the start of the season as planned but may be open to potential legal challenges by clubs.