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ENGLAND
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LEAGUE STRUCTURE
This is a tabular summary of the English league structure from the beginning of the 2021-22 season: -
| 1. | Premier League |
|---|---|
| 2. | EFL Championship |
| 3. | EFL League 1 |
| 4. | EFL League 2 |
| 5. | National League | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | National League North | National League South | ||||||
| 7. | Northern Premier League Premier | Southern League Premier Central | Southern League Premier South | Isthmian League Premier | ||||
| 8. | Northern Premier League West | Northern Premier League East | Northern Premier League Midlands | Southern League Division 1 Central | Southern League Division 1 South | Isthmian League South Central | Isthmian League North | Isthmian League South East |
The tables below give a rough approximation of the system. It ought to be noted that the means by which one league interacts with another is more fluid. This overview is one of convenience, and is reflected in the various subpages of each season of English football. Please also note that only leagues active in the recent past (specifically since the development of the "pyramid" during the latter years of the 20th & early 21st centuries) are included.
NB leagues in bold are recognised leagues in the National League System at Steps 5-7, the highest tier being to the left. Those in italics are unofficial feeders of the leagues at a higher level. Leagues shown with a grey background are defunct.
| Northern League | Northern Alliance | North East Combination |
| North Northumberland League | ||
| Newcastle Corinthians League | ||
| North Riding League | ||
| Wearside League | Crook & District League | |
| Cumberland County League | ||
| Tyneside Amateur League | ||
| Durham Alliance | ||
| Durham Alliance Combination | ||
| Eskvale & Cleveland League | ||
| Teesside League | ||
| Wearside Combination |
| North West Counties League | West Lancashire League | Furness Premier League |
| Lancashire Amateur League | Rochdale Alliance | |
| East Lancashire League | Blackburn & District Combination | |
| Accrington & District Combination | ||
| Burnley & District League | ||
| Mid Lancashire League | Southport & District League | |
| Wigan & District League | ||
| Chorley & District Alliance League | ||
| North Lancashire & District League | ||
| Westmorland League | ||
| Liverpool County Premier League | I Zingari Combination | |
| Liverpool Old Boys League | ||
| Liverpool & District CMS League | ||
| Manchester League | Lancashire & Cheshire Amateur League | Manchester Saturday Morning League |
| Stockport & District League | ||
| West Cheshire League | Chester & Wirral League | |
| Warrington & District League | ||
| Birkenhead & Wirral League | ||
| St. Helens & District Combination | ||
| Cheshire League | Altrincham & District Amateur League | |
| Crewe & District League | ||
| Hope Valley Amateur League | ||
| East Cheshire League | ||
| Staffordshire County Senior League | Burton & District FA League |
| Northern Counties East League | Humber Premier League | East Riding County League | Driffield & District League |
| Scarborough & District League | |||
| East Riding Amateur League | |||
| York & District League | Beckett League | ||
| West Yorkshire League | Craven & District League | Wensleydale League | |
| Wharfedale Triangle League | |||
| Halifax & District League | |||
| Harrogate & District League | |||
| Huddersfield & District League | Huddersfield & District Works & Combination League | ||
| Wakefield & District FA League | |||
| Leeds Red Triangle League | |||
| Selby & District League | |||
| Spen Valley & District League | |||
| Yorkshire Amateur League | |||
| West Riding Amateur League | |||
| Sheffield & Hallamshire League | Doncaster & District League | ||
| South Yorkshire League | |||
| Central Midlands League | Midlands Regional Alliance | Matlock & District League | |
| Lincolnshire League | East Lincolnshire Combination | ||
| Scunthorpe & District League | |||
| Grantham & District League | |||
| Lincoln & District Saturday League | |||
| Nottinghamshire Senior League | Nottinghamshire & Midland Amateur Alliance | ||
| Midland Amateur Alliance | |||
| Nottinghamshire Amateur Alliance | |||
| East Midlands Counties League |
| Midland League | West Midlands (Regional) League | Coventry Alliance |
| Herefordshire FA County League | ||
| Shropshire Premier League | Telford Combination | |
| Stratford-upon-Avon Alliance | ||
| Wolverhampton & District Combination | ||
| Birmingham & District League | ||
| Midland Combination | Kidderminster & District League | |
| Worcester & District League |
| United Counties League | Bedfordshire County League | Luton, District & South Bedfordshire League |
| Leicestershire Senior League | North Leicestershire League | Leicester & District League |
| Northamptonshire Combination League | Northampton Town & District League | |
| Peterborough & District League |
| Hellenic League | North Berkshire League |
| Oxfordshire Senior League | Banbury & Lord Jersey FA |
| Oxford City FA | |
| Witney & District FA League | |
| Thames Valley League | |
| Chiltonian League |
| Spartan South Midlands League | Aylesbury & District League |
| East Berkshire League | |
| Hertfordshire Senior County League | Hertford & District League |
| West Hertfordshire Saturday League | |
| Bishop's Stortford, Stanstead & District League | |
| North Buckinghamshire & District League |
| Western League | Wiltshire Senior League | Salisbury & District League | |
| Swindon & District League | |||
| Trowbridge & District League League | |||
| Gloucestershire County League | Bristol Premier Combination | Bristol & District League | Bristol Downs League |
| Bristol & Avon League | |||
| Bristol & Suburban League | |||
| Gloucester Northern Senior League | Cheltenham League | Cirencester & District League | |
| North Gloucestershire League | |||
| Stroud & District League | |||
| Somerset County League | Mid-Somerset League | ||
| Perry Street & District League | |||
| Taunton & District League | |||
| Weston-super-Mare & District League | |||
| Yeovil & District League | |||
| Bath & North Somerset League | |||
| South-West Peninsular League | Devon League | Devon & Exeter League | |
| North Devon League | |||
| Plymouth & West Devon League | |||
| South Devon League | |||
| St. Piran League | Cornwall Combination | Trelawny League | |
| Falmouth & Helston League | |||
| Mining League | |||
| East Cornwall League | Duchy League | ||
| Kingsley League | |||
| Wessex League | Dorset Premier League | Dorset League | Bournemouth Saturday League |
| Hampshire Premier League | Aldershot & District League | ||
| Andover & District League | |||
| Basingstoke & District League | |||
| Southampton Saturday League | Isle of Wight Saturday League | ||
| Andover & District League | |||
| Hampshire League 2004 | |||
| Portsmouth Saturday League |
| Southern Combination | East Sussex League |
| Mid-Sussex League | |
| West Sussex League | Brighton, Worthing & District League |
| Brighton, Hove & District League | |
| Worthing & District League |
| Southern Counties East League | Kent Invicta League | Kent County League | Ashford & District Saturday League |
| Bromley & South London League | |||
| Canterbury & District League | |||
| Rochester & District League | |||
| Sevenoaks & District League | |||
| Rochester & District League | |||
| Bromley & District League | |||
| Maidstone & District League | |||
| South London Alliance | |||
| Thanet & District League | |||
| Tonbridge & District League |
| Combined Counties League | Middlesex County League | Kingston & District League |
| Redhill & District League | ||
| West End (London) AFA League | ||
| Wimbledon & District League | ||
| Hounslow & District League | ||
| Surrey Elite Intermediate League | Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) | Guildford & Woking Alliance League |
| Surrey South Eastern Combination |
| Essex Senior League | Essex Olympian League | Colchester & East Essex League |
| Essex Alliance League | ||
| Mid-Essex League | ||
| Southend Borough Combination | ||
| Essex Business Houses League | ||
| Ilford & District League | ||
| Romford & District League |
| Eastern Counties League | Anglian Combination | Central & South Norfolk League |
| Great Yarmouth & District League | ||
| Lowestoft & District League | ||
| North East Norfolk League | ||
| North West Norfolk League | ||
| St. Edmundsbury League | ||
| Norwich & District Saturday League | ||
| Cambridgeshire County League | ||
| Essex & Suffolk Border League | ||
| Suffolk & Ipswich League |
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PYRAMID
This section furnishes an overview of key changes in the history of the English league system. It covers the top levels only, more specifically the Premier, Football and National Leagues: -
The current structure, adopted from the beginning of the 2021-22 season after being delayed due to COVID, has a mathematically-simple formula of one, two, four, eight and sixteen leagues at Steps 1-5 (levels 5-9).
| Premier League | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | |||
| League 1 | |||
| League 2 | |||
| Conference National | |||
| Conference North | Conference South | ||
| Northern Premier League Premier | Southern League Premier | Isthmian League Premier | |
| Northern Premier League Division 1 | Southern League Division 1 West | Southern League Division 1 East | Isthmian League Division 1 |
Two seasons after the introduction of a two up/two down system between the Football League's 3rd Division and the Conference, two new regional divisions were added below the latter league.
| Premier League | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Division 1 | |||
| Division 2 | |||
| Division 3 | |||
| Conference | |||
| Northern Premier League Premier | Southern League Premier | Isthmian League Premier | |
| Northern Premier League Division 1 | Southern League Midland | Southern League Southern | Isthmian League Division 1 |
Top-level football finds itself quids in with the introduction of the breakaway Premier League. The remaining Football League teams are now organised into three, rather than four, divisions.
The 1986-87 season sees the introduction of direct promotion to and relegation from the Football League. Scarborough are the first team to benefit, with Lincoln City being the first team to lose their league status by this means.
| Division 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | ||
| Division 3 | ||
| Division 4 | ||
| Alliance Premier League | ||
| Northern Premier League | Southern League | Isthmian League |
A year earlier, after some resistance from both itself and the Northern League, the Isthmian League (which had already lost two strong clubs to the Alliance Premier League) was accepted as a level six league.
| Division 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | |||||
| Division 3 | |||||
| Division 4 | |||||
| Alliance Premier League | |||||
| Northern Premier League | Southern League Premier | ||||
| Cheshire County League | Lancashire Combination | Midland League | Northern Alliance | Southern League Midland | Southern League Southern |
The Cheshire Combination League and Lancashire Combination would merge to form the North West Counties League, while the Midland League would join forces with the Yorkshire League as the Northern Counties East League during the rationalisation of the feeder system in the north of England in 1982. The Northern Alliance would eventually serve as a feeder to the Northern League when that outfit reluctantly agreed to sit beneath the Northern Premier League.
1979 saw the introduction of a non-Football League competition with a national catchment in the form of the Alliance Premier League.
MAJOR POST-WAR AMATEUR LEAGUES
| Isthmian League | Northern League |
|---|---|
| Athenian League | |
| Corinthian League | |
| Delphian League |
The Athenian League served as a feeder to the Isthmian League up to its incorporation into the latter in 1984. The Corinthian & Delphian Leagues were founded later than the others, during the post-war years, and both were swallowed up by the Athenian League prior to the 1963-64 campaign.
In 1974, the Football Association in its wisdom decided to abolish amateur status.
| Division 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | |||||
| Division 3 | |||||
| Division 4 | |||||
| Northern Premier League | Southern League Premier | ||||
| Cheshire County League | Lancashire Combination | Midland League | Northern Alliance | Southern League Division 1 | |
Keen to develop a northern analogue to the Southern League, the Lancashire Combination, Cheshire County League and Midland League (along with the North Regional League, which soon disbands) furnish some twenty teams to a new Northern Premier League.
| Division 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | |||||
| Division 3 | |||||
| Division 4 | |||||
| Birmingham & District League | Cheshire County League | Lancashire Combination | Midland League | Southern League North Western Zone | Southern League South Eastern Zone |
The Birmingham & District League is not the current league alluded to above. Instead, it is the forerunner to the present-day West Midlands (Regional) League, having changed its name in 1962.
The Football League abolishes the long-standing regional Third Divisions in favour of a single Third and a new Fourth Division, both with a national footprint.
| Division 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | |||||||
| Division 3 North | Division 3 South | ||||||
| Cheshire County League | Lancashire Combination | North Eastern League | Northern Alliance | Birmingham & District Combination | Birmingham & District League | Midland League | Southern League |
A year after its incorporation of the Southern League's top flight as the new Division 3, the Football League oversees the creation of a northern division at the same level.
| Division 1 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division 2 | ||||||||
| Division 3 | ||||||||
| Birmingham & District Combination | Birmingham & District League | Central League | Cheshire County League | Lancashire Combination | Midland League | North Eastern League | Northern Alliance | Southern League |
All first teams participating in the Central League became members of Division 3 North a year later, with that league surviving thereafter as a competition for reserve teams.
Division 1 of the Southern League is imported wholesale into the Football League to form the new Division 3.
Whilst the Football League was proving to be a successful competition, Woolwich Arsenal aside, all of its members hailed from the north of England and the Midlands. An abortive attempt had been made to form a southern counterpart as early as 1892 in the form of the Southern Alliance, but the Southern League, founded this year, would prove to be more successful, even supplying an FA Cup winner (Tottenham Hotspur in 1901) and runner-up (Southampton a year earlier and again in 1902).
| Division 1 |
|---|
| Division 2 |
The Football League incorporates teams, primarily from the Football Alliance, to form a new second tier. Promotion and relegation is originally decided via "test matches": play-offs precede automatic promotion.
Under the influence of a Mr. William McGregor, a Perthshire man living in Birmingham, twelve teams from Lancashire and the Midlands agree to the formation of the first football league in existence. Not everyone is happy: a number of teams who missed out form the Football Combination, an inchoate fixture circle which is never completed and, a year later, the Football Alliance, while various regional leagues also appear in short order (one, the Northern League, is still in existence, as is the Birmingham & District League under a different name, while "descendants" of the Lancashire and Midland Leagues also remain).
Although its prestige has waned during the Premier League era, the FA Cup still maintains an aura in the hearts & minds of many men, both in England and abroad. Originally the preserve of the gentleman amateur, by its second decade the Cup came to be dominated by the new powerhouses of the industrial North and Midlands. Various competitions with a more local footprint are also organised during this time, the earliest being in Sheffield (and played under the auspices of the Sheffield rules) in the late 1860s.
These cups, principally the FA Cup, are used to gauge the performances of teams during the era preceding the formation of the Football League.
As for the benighted gentleman amateur, left behind by the rude hordes from the industrial heartlands and Lancashire mill towns, they would organise another, strictly non-professional, competition, the FA Amateur Cup. Of course, this too came to be dominated by those same rude hordes, necessitating the formation of the Arthur Dunn Cup, open only to teams of alumni from top private schools.
It was those gentleman amateurs who were key to bringing football to the world, by codifying a set of rules by which to conduct affairs on the field of play. This happened in 1863 (and soon led to the secession of those who preferred egg-chasing).
LEAGUE STRUCTURE
This is a tabular summary of the English league structure from the beginning of the 2021-22 season: -
| 1. | FA Women's Super League | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | FA Women's Championship Championship | |||||||
| 3. | FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division | FA Women's National League Southern Premier Division | ||||||
| 4. | FA Women's National League Division 1 North | FA Women's National League Division 1 Midlands | FA Women's National League Division 1 South West | FA Women's National League Division 1 South East | ||||
| 5. | North West Women's Regional League | North East Regional Women's League | West Midlands Regional Women's League | East Midlands Regional Women's League | Southern Region Women's League | South West Regional Women's League | Eastern Region Women's League | London & South East Women's Regional League |
Level 6 features a second tier of all level 5 leagues with the exception of the London & South East Women's Regional League, which is fed at this step by the South East Counties Women's League and Greater London Women's League. These second tiers - entitled Division 1 - are formed of two geographically-based divisions, generally North and South, though the South West Regional Women's League features Division 1 East, Division 1 West and occasionally Division 1 North.
| North West Women's Regional League | Cheshire Women's & Youth League |
| Greater Manchester Women's League | |
| Lancashire FA Women's County League | |
| Liverpool County FA Women's League | |
| North East Regional Women's League | Durham County FA Women's League |
| East Riding County Women's League | |
| North Riding Women's League | |
| Sheffield & Hallamshire Women's League | |
| West Riding County Women's League | |
| West Midlands Regional Women's League | Birmingham County Women's League |
| Midwest Counties Female League | |
| Staffordshire County Women's League | |
| East Midlands Regional Women's League | Derbyshire Ladies' League |
| Leicestershire Women's Senior League | |
| Lincolnshire County Women's League | |
| Northamptonshire Women's League | |
| Nottinghamshire Ladies' League | |
| Southern Region Women's League | Hampshire County Women's League |
| Thames Valley Counties Women's League | |
| South West Regional Women's League | Cornwall Women's League |
| Devon Women's League | |
| Dorset Women's League | |
| Gloucestershire County Women's League | |
| Somerset County Women's League | |
| Wiltshire County Women's League | |
| Eastern Region Women's League | Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire County Women's League |
| Cambridgeshire Women's County League | |
| Essex County Women's League | |
| Norfolk Women's League | |
| Suffolk Women's League | |
| South East Counties Women's League | South East Counties Women's League Division 1 (East) |
| South East Counties Women's League Division 1 (West) | |
| South East Counties Women's League Kent Division 1 | |
| Sussex County Women's League | |
| Greater London Women's League |
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PYRAMID
The table below highlights the major developments in the top levels of women's football in England from before the founding of a league with a national footprint to the most recent changes to the system: -
| 1969-1991 | 1991-94 | 1994-1998 | 1998-2010 | 2010-2014 | 2014-2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Various leagues* in operation on a regional basis. | WFA National League Premier | Women's Premier League National | Women's Super League | Women's Super League 1 | |
| 2. | WFA National League Northern | Southern | Women's Premier League Northern | Southern | Women's Premier League National | Women's Super League 2 | ||
| 3. | Regional leagues | Combination Leagues Northern | Midland | South West | South East | Women's Premier League Northern | Southern | |||
| 4. | Regional leagues | Combination Leagues Northern | Midland | South West | South East | Women's Premier League Division 1 Northern | Midland | South West | South East | |||
* the earliest regional women's leagues in operation include the Southampton League (active as early as 1966), Midland Ladies' League (founded in 1969), the Heart of England Ladies' League, Home Counties Women's League, Kent Women's League & Torbay Women's League (1970), Merseyside & Wirral League (1971), as well as later foundations such as the Three Counties Women's League (covering the north west of England), Hull Women's League and the highly-esteemed Nottingham Ladies' League.
