There's been quite a big change during the off-season in the League of Ireland in the second tier, the First Division.
Instead of going ahead with 10 teams as usual, two of the teams have sort of merged together (Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely), they've stuck with the name Bray Wanderers and Cabinteely have left the league as a result, they're not going extinct, just not taking part in the League of Ireland any longer.
So there will only be 9 teams in the League of Ireland First Division in the coming season, which kicks off on February 18th.
The rules for promotion from the First Division are the exact same as last year, but the reduction in teams will obviously affect how the game works now.
For example, instead of 27 games being played, it will now be a 32 game season in the First Division, with each team playing each other four times - https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/news/fixtures-announced-for-sse-airtricity-first-division/id-4049
This also gives the added complication that you will have one less team in the FAI Cup with Cabinteely leaving (in FM the FAI Cup is called the Senior Challenge Cup), so perhaps an extra Junior team will have to be added to compensate for that.
Also the Irish League Cup has more or less been scrapped and hasn't been in operation since COVID-19 hit in March 2020.
Hopefully these changes are being reflected in the upcoming January patch or there will be a lot disappointed Irish FM fans.
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