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The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the JBE League Cup for sponsorship purposes) and previously the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to the 40 Northern Ireland Football League clubs. It is the third-highest rated competition in domestic Northern Irish football after the NIFL Premiership and Irish Cup. It should not be confused with the Irish League Floodlit Cup which ran from 1987–88 to 1997–98 initially under the sponsorship of Budweiser and latterly Coca-Cola. Unlike the Irish Cup, the competition does not have a berth for UEFA Europa League qualification, however the winners qualify for the next season's all-Ireland Setanta Sports Cup. The cup is operated by the Northern Ireland Football League, who in 2013 took over the administration from the Irish Football Association (IFA) for the 2013–14 season onwards, after which the cup became known as the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Cup. Currently sponsored by JBE Mechanical Electrical, the competition's previous sponsors include WASP Solutions (2013–14 and 2014–15), Irn Bru (2011–12 and 2012–13),〔(Irn Bru unveiled as new League Cup sponsor )〕 Co-operative Insurance (2001–02 to 2010–11), Coca-Cola (1998–99 to 2000–01), Wilkinson Sword (1991–92 to 1997–98), and Roadferry Freight (1986–87 to 1990–91). Cliftonville are the current holders, after they defeated Ballymena United 3–2 in the 2015 final. In doing so, they won the competition for a fourth time and became only the second club to win the competition in three consecutive seasons, emulating Linfield who won three consecutive cups in 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000. ==Format== Unlike the Irish Cup, the League Cup is restricted to the 40 Northern Ireland Football League clubs. It is contested by the 12 NIFL Premiership clubs, and the 28 clubs in NIFL Championship 1 and NIFL Championship 2. The competition uses a knock-out system. Each round consists of a single match. In the event that the scores are level, extra time is played, and if the teams are still level, there is a penalty shoot-out. The top 16 ranked clubs from the previous season receive byes into the second round, which includes the 12 Premiership clubs, and the top four ranked clubs from Championship 1. Of the remaining 24 Championship clubs, 16 enter in the first round, with the remaining eight randomly drawn to receive byes into the second round. The second round draw is seeded so that the top 16 clubs from the previous season avoid each other. The second round is the only round of the competition in which seeding is used. From there on, the competition has a third round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and a neutral venue final. 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「Northern Ireland Football League Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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