All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: Teams, dates and format

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is the top level of competition in Gaelic football.

31 Irish teams compete each year, as well as New York and London to make 33 teams overall, with the winners being crowned the All-Ireland champions.

Find out about the format, the dates and the teams below.

Format

Provincial championships

The All-Ireland Football Championship is contested between 33 teams across four provinces, with each province being contested by a varying number of counties.

The Senior Football Championship for Connacht contains seven counties, Leinster has 12, Munster has six and Ulster has nine.

The Connacht Senior Football Championship (SFC) is played with the quarter-finals as the first round with the team not drawn receiving a bye to the semi-finals.

With 11 teams, Leinster has a preliminary round, contested between the first six teams drawn with the remaining five receiving a bye to the quarter-finals.

Munster has two quarter-finals with two teams receiving byes to the semi-finals.

Ulster has one preliminary match between the first two teams drawn with the rest receiving byes to the quarter-finals.

All finalists in the four SFCs advance directly to the All-Ireland group stage as first seeds for the winners and second seeds for the runners-up.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship group stage

The group stage is comprised of 16 teams, drawn into four groups, each playing three games - one at home, one away and one at a neutral venue.

The groups are comprised of the eight finalists from the provincial championships, the Tailteann Cup holders from the previous year, and the seven highest ranked counties in the National Football League who've not already qualified.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship knockout stage

The teams finishing second and third in the group stage qualify for the preliminary quarter-finals. The group winners advance to the quarter-finals where they face the winners from the preliminary quarter-finals at home.

The quarter-final winners face off in the semi-finals, with the winners of that game meeting in the final.

All ties are over one leg with extra time required if necessary.

Teams

Connacht Senior Football Championship

• Galway

• Leitrim

• London

• Mayo

• New York

• Roscommon

• Sligo

Leinster Senior Football Championship

• Carlow

• Dublin

• Kildare

• Laois

• Longford

• Louth

• Meath

• Offaly

• Westmeath

• Wexford

• Wicklow

Munster Senior Football Championship

• Clare

• Cork

• Kerry

• Limerick

• Tipperary

• Waterford

Ulster Senior Football Championship

• Antrim

• Armagh

• Cavan

• Derry

• Donegal

• Down

• Fermanagh

• Monaghan

• Tyrone

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship dates

The National Football League, which runs separately to the All-Ireland, but is used to determine teams who compete in the All-Ireland, takes place at the start of the year, from the end of January to the end of March.

The provincial championships then take place from April to May.

The dates for the group stage matches are still to be confirmed, though are expected to run from May to June as per 2024.

The preliminary quarter-finals will take place on 21st and 22nd June 2025.

The quarter-finals will take place on 28th and 29th June 2025.

The semi-finals will take place on 12th and 13th July 2025.

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final takes place on 27th July 2025.