SuperCupNI

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Football tournament in Northern Ireland

title: "SuperCupNI" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["supercupni", "international-association-football-competitions-hosted-by-northern-ireland", "youth-football-competitions", "youth-association-football-in-northern-ireland"] description: "Football tournament in Northern Ireland" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperCupNI" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Football tournament in Northern Ireland ::

| name = SuperCupNI | logo = [[Image:SuperCupNI.png|250px]] | caption = SuperCupNI Logo | founded = 1995 (Elite) 1983 (Premier) 1985 (Junior) | region = Northern Ireland | number of teams = 6 (Elite) 24 (Premier) 24 (Junior) | current champions = | most successful club = | broadcasters = BBC Northern Ireland | motto = | website = | current =

SuperCupNI, formerly called the ** Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament** and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of Northern Ireland, with matches taking place in the towns of Portrush, Portstewart, Castlerock, Limavady, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Ballymena and Broughshane. Mitre are the Official Ball Sponsor of the SuperCup with a specially designed Pro Max ball being used.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Dale_Farm_Milk_Cup.png" caption="Logo used when the tournament was known as the Dale Farm Milk Cup"] ::

The Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament began in 1983 with sixteen teams participating at an Under 16 (Premier) level. Motherwell from Scotland were the first winners. It was founded by Jim Weir, Victor Leonard, George Logan and Bertie Peacock, one of the most famous football players from the region.

The competition was extended in 1985 when an extra age group, the Under 14 (Junior) section was introduced and again the first champions were from Scotland, as Rangers won the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament at that age level. The competition at both levels has grown in size and stature over the years, with teams increasingly travelling from all continents to compete. The Under 19 (Elite) section was introduced in 1995 with the Welsh finishing the tournament as winners. Traditionally, the finals are played at the Coleraine Showgrounds on the Friday evening. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Taça_Milk_Cup_2007.jpg" caption="Milk Cup Sub-16 2007."] ::

Internationally capped footballers have taken part in the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament, such as Charlie Davies, Jonathan Spector, Paul Scholes, and Wayne Rooney have all competed at some level. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup there were 30 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament veterans playing.

To celebrate the competition's silver jubilee, a friendly match took place between Northern Ireland and four-time junior section winners Everton at the Coleraine Showgrounds on 14 July 2007. Everton won the tie 2–0.

One of the key parts to the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament is the inclusion of six representative teams from each county of Northern Ireland – Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. This system allows young players from across the province to compete against some of the best in the world at their age group.

In October 2013, the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament organising committee and lead sponsors Dairy Council released a joint statement stating that the long-term sponsors Dairy Council would be withdrawing sponsorship.

In February 2014, the organisers announced that competition would be sponsored by Belfast-based company Dale Farm and that the competition would be known as the Dale Farm Milk Cup for sponsorship reasons. From 2016 it has been known as the Super Cup NI.

Winners

::data[format=table]

YearElite (U-19)Premier (U-16)Junior (U-14)WinnerRunner-upWinnerRunner-upWinnerRunner-up
1983Founded in 1995SCO MotherwellNIR ColeraineFounded in 1985
1984SCO RangersSCO Motherwell
1985ENG Newcastle UnitedNIR ColeraineSCO RangersNIR Craigavon
1986SCO Dundee UnitedENG Newcastle UnitedNIR Craigavon UnitedENG Crewe Alexandra
1987ENG Crewe AlexandraENG LiverpoolSCO Dundee UnitedENG Crewe Alexandra
1988ENG LiverpoolSCO MotherwellIRE Home FarmSCO Dundee United
1989ENG Newcastle UnitedENG Manchester UnitedNIR Dungannon SwiftsIRL Dublin & District Schoolboys
1990ENG Tottenham HotspurENG Crewe AlexandraENG Crewe AlexandraSCO Hibernian
1991ENG Manchester UnitedSCO Heart of MidlothianENG Norwich CitySCO Dundee United
1992SCO RangersENG Nottingham ForestENG Norwich CitySCO Heart of Midlothian
1993IRE Cherry OrchardSCO RangersSCO Heart of Midlothian
1994SCO HeartsENG MiddlesbroughENG Manchester United
1995NED FeyenoordENG EvertonENG Norwich City
1996ENG Tottenham HotspurENG Blackburn RoversENG West Ham UnitedSCO Motherwell
1997ENG MiddlesbroughENG Manchester UnitedENG West Ham UnitedENG Middlesbrough
1998ENG West Ham UnitedENG Crewe AlexandraENG West Ham United
1999BRA VitóriaENG Crewe AlexandraENG Manchester UnitedENG Manchester CityENG Everton
2000ENG Manchester CityENG Charlton AthleticENG Manchester City
2001ENG Manchester UnitedENG Norwich CitySCO Heart of Midlothian
2002ENG Leeds UnitedGRE PanathinaikosENG EvertonBRA Botafogo
2003ENG Manchester UnitedENG Preston North EndARG Racing ClubSCO Heart of Midlothian
2004SCO Heart of MidlothianIRE BelvedereISR Maccabi HaifaENG Everton
2005USA USAESP BarcelonaENG ChelseaDEN LyngbyRUS CSKA Moscow
2006USA USARUS Spartak MoscowAUT Rapid ViennaENG Swindon TownIRL Crumlin United
2007BRA FluminenseENG Manchester UnitedMEX GuadalajaraIRL St. Kevin's Boys FC
2008ENG Manchester UnitedUSA South Coast BayernENG EvertonENG Wolverhampton Wanderers
2009ENG Manchester UnitedENG Sheffield UnitedENG EvertonENG Watford
2010USA USASEN Étoile LusitanaENG Bolton WanderersENG ChelseaMEX Cruz Azul
2011QAT AspireENG Manchester UnitedENG EvertonMEX Cruz Azul
2012BRA Desportivo BrasilENG Newcastle UnitedENG BrentfordENG Everton
2013ENG Manchester UnitedNIR County TyroneENG EvertonNIR County Antrim
2014ENG Manchester UnitedFRA VendéeBRA CorinthiansNIR County Antrim
2015not heldNIR County AntrimMEX Club AméricaGHA Right to DreamENG Southampton
2016ENG EvertonSCO CelticCHI O'HigginsSCO HibernianGHA Right to DreamNIR County Londonderry
2017ENG Manchester UnitedGHA Right to DreamMEX Club AméricaNIR County AntrimUSA GPS Bayern
2018not heldITA B ItaliaNIR County DownNIR County AntrimENG Manchester United
2019not heldSPA ValenciaENG Newcastle UnitedSCO Rangers FCENG Charlton Athletic
::

The competition wasn't played in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Manchester United's under-16s played 3 challenge matches against Coleraine, Ballymena United and Linfield.

::data[format=table]

YearPremierJuniorYouth (U-14)Minor (U-13)WinnerRunner-upWinnerRunner-upWinnerRunner-upWinnerRunner-up
2022ENG Ipswich TownNIR County AntrimENG Manchester UnitedSCO RangersENG Charlton AthleticNIR GlenavonUSA Surf SelectNIR Glentoran
2023NIR County LondonderryMEX Tigres UANLENG West Ham UnitedNIR County Antrimnot heldSCO CelticNIR Dungannon United Youth
2024ENG Brighton & Hove AlbionNIR County ArmaghENG West Ham UnitedNIR County Downnot heldNIR CrusadersNIR Linfield
2025ENG Brighton & Hove AlbionNIR County ArmaghENG Southampton F.C.NIR County Downnot heldNIR CrusadersNIR Linfield
::

Notable players

Media coverage

Since 2005 the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament has been broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland, taking over from UTV. This has led to much more media coverage as matches from Finals Night are broadcast on BBC Two Northern Ireland. Usually these are from the Premier and Elite section featuring highlights of the junior game which happens earlier in the afternoon. Some Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament matches are broadcast on BBC Two NI, made available to the rest of the UK via BBCi and the BBC Sport website and some other Milk Cup matches are broadcast online. The coverage is usually hosted by Stephen Watson, with commentary by BBC commentators such as Jackie Fullerton, Michael McNamee, Paul Gilmour, Joel Taggart, Grant Cameron and punditry by John O'Neill, Gerry Armstrong and Oran Kearney.

References

References

  1. (21 October 2013). "Milk Cup Chairman: Dairy Council backing was 'remarkable'". NI Milk Cup.
  2. (28 February 2014). "Dale Farm new sponsor for Milk Cup". Johnston Publishing.
  3. (20 October 2015). "Milk Cup football tournament in name change to Super Cup NI". BBC Sport.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

supercupniinternational-association-football-competitions-hosted-by-northern-irelandyouth-football-competitionsyouth-association-football-in-northern-ireland