2011–12 IFA Premiership

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.

Summary
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. 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.

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.

Teams
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.

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.

Stadia and locations
1 Carrick Rangers played their home matches at Crusaders' Seaview ground.

Matches 1–22
During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).

Matches 23–33
During matches 23–33 each team played other team for the third time (either at home, or away).

Matches 34–38
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.

Promotion/relegation play-off
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