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|number of teams =129 (2015–16) |current champions =Glentoran (2014–15) |most successful club=Linfield (42 titles) |website =(Irish Cup ) }} ''This article is about the tournament in Northern Ireland. For the equivalent tournament in the Republic of Ireland, see FAI Cup.'' The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Irish Cup, is the national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth-oldest national cup competition in the world. Prior to the break-away from the Irish Football Association by clubs from what would become the Irish Free State in 1921, the Irish Cup was the national cup competition for the whole of Ireland. Glentoran are the current holders after beating Portadown 1–0 in the 2015 final. The Cup is currently without a sponsor, after former sponsor JJB Sports went into administration in October 2012. It was previously sponsored by Nationwide Building Society and Bass Ireland Ltd. == Format == The competition is open to all clubs in Northern Ireland with intermediate or senior status. Clubs obtain such status by meeting minimum criteria laid down by the Irish Football Association in respect of facilities, etc. Each club, for example, must have its own enclosed ground. The twelve senior clubs of the NIFL Premiership are exempt until the fifth round, which consists of 32 clubs and is played in January. The 30 members of the NIFL Championship enter in the fourth round.〔 The competition begins in August or September with the first round, and ends with the final in May. 129 clubs entered the 2015–16 competition. The competition is contested in a knock-out format. Teams are drawn against each other randomly. The team who is drawn first from each tie is the home team, except in the case of an intermediate team from outside the Championship drawn first against a senior team, when the tie is played at the ground of the senior team. If the match finishes in a draw, extra time is played and (if necessary) penalties are used to decide the winner.〔 In the early years of the competition the final was played at several different venues in Belfast, including the Oval, Solitude, Grosvenor Park and Celtic Park, as well as Dalymount Park in Dublin. From 1996–2014 the final was played exclusively at Windsor Park. However, the 2015 final had to be switched to the Oval, following the discovery of damage to a stand at the usual Windsor Park venue. Different formats and rules have been used in the past in respect of eligibility to enter the competition, the number of teams and rounds, replays, extra time, penalties, etc., but since its inception in 1881, the competition has always been a randomly drawn knock-out competition, and has always been, and continues to be, considered the most important such competition in Northern Ireland (and, prior to 1921, Ireland), second only to the NIFL Premiership. The Cup Final is the climax of the domestic season in Northern Ireland and usually attracts the biggest attendance of any club match. The Cup winners qualify to represent Northern Ireland in the following season’s UEFA Europa League. However, if they have already qualified for European competition as winners or runners-up of the NIFL Premiership, the 3rd-placed Premiership club are awarded the berth, and do not have to participate in the Premiership's Europa League play-offs.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NIFL Regulations and Club Information – Season 2015/16 )〕 The winners (or runners-up if the winners have already qualified via the NIFL Premiership) also qualify for the next season’s all-Ireland Setanta Cup. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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