Nine teams will contest next season’s League of Ireland First Division, the FAI has confirmed.
Cabinteely’s takeover of Bray Wanderers has left Irish football’s second tier one team down, but no new entity will be added.
A League of Ireland third tier will be established for 2023 and the FAI said its plans for the 2023 First Division will be ‘evaluated during the course of next season’.
Irish Sea FC had expressed interest in applying for First Division membership following the Cabo-Bray move.
But an FAI statement this evening read: “The Board of the Football Association of Ireland has approved a nine-team format for the 2022 SSE Airtricity First Division season with four rounds of games scheduled to begin on February 18th.
“The decision was taken in light of the circumstances presented by the very recent merger of Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely and their new application for a First Division licence for 2022.
“The nine-team format will see the SSE Airtricity First Division champions promoted automatically to the Premier Division with the sides finishing in second, third, fourth and fifth spots contesting a promotion/relegation play-off series alongside the team that finishes ninth in the Premier.
“The First Division teams finishing second and fifth and the teams in third and fourth place will play each other in a two-legged play-off with the winners then contesting a one-legged final.
“The winner of this tie will then play the team that finishes ninth in the Premier Division to secure the final top flight spot for the 2023 season.”
Premier Division and First Division fixtures for the 2022 season will be published on Monday.
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