Derry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division. It had spent the majority of its time in the League of Ireland in the Premier Division, the top tier of league football in the Republic of Ireland, but was expelled in November 2009 when it was discovered there were secondary, unofficial contracts with players. It was reinstated a few weeks later but demoted to the First Division, the second tier. The club are the League of Ireland's only participant from Northern Ireland. The club's home ground is the Brandywell Stadium and the players wear red and white striped shirts from which its nickname, the Candystripes, derives. Others refer to the club as the Red and White Army or abbreviate the name to Derry or City.