The English football league system reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

English football league system

The English football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in England (though for historical reasons (namely that the league system was originally intended to be UK-wide), a small number of Welsh clubs also compete).

Table of contents

1 Structure 2 Current System 3 System from the 2004-2005 Season Onwards

Structure

At the top is the FA Premier League, a single-division league of 20 clubs. Below is The Football League, which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs. Below that is the Football Conference, which contains a national division of 22 clubs followed by (from next season) divisions covering the north and south of England (and parts of Wales) again with 22 clubs each. Under that are three regional leagues, each associated different geographical area: the Northern Premier League covers the north of England; the Southern League covers the south of England (except Greater London), the Midlands and parts of Wales and the Isthmian League covers Greater London. Each of these leagues has a different divisional set up, but they all have one thing in common: there are yet more leagues below them, each covering smaller and smaller geographical levels. In some areas, there are more than twenty levels to the league system. The leagues from the Football Conference down are collectively known as the National League System.

Each league sets its own rules, but all follow the general standard of each club playing everyone else twice with three points being awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The league table is always ordered with whoever has the most points at the top and the least at the bottom (ways of distinguishing between clubs level on points differ from league to league). Various degrees of promotion and relegation exist between all the leagues and divisions, meaning that any team can theoretically can climb (or fall) to any level.

Current System

Below shows how the current system works. For each division, its official name, sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) and number of clubs is given:

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	FA Premier League (Barclaycard Premiership) 20 clubs
2	Football League First Division (Nationwide Football League Division One) 24 clubs
3	Football League Second Division (Nationwide Football League Division Two) 24 clubs
4	Football League Third Division (Nationwide Football League Division Three) 24 clubs
5	Football Conference (Nationwide Conference) 22 clubs
6	Northern Premier League Premier Division (UniBond League Premier Division) 23 clubs		Southern League Premier Division (Dr Martens League Premier Division) 22 clubs		Isthmian League Premier Division (Ryman League Premier Division) 24 clubs
7	Northern Premier League First Division (UniBond League First Division) 22 clubs		Southern League Midland and West Division (Dr Martens League Western Division) 22 clubs	Southern League Southern and East Division (Dr Martens League Eastern Division) 22 clubs	Isthmian League Division One North (Ryman League Division One North) 22 clubs	Isthmian League Division One South (Ryman League Division One South) 22 clubs
8+	Many more regional leagues (see articles on leagues above for their immediate feeders)

System from the 2004-2005 Season Onwards

From next season, there will be a number of changes to the league system (both in organisation and sponsorship). Below shows how the new system will work. For each division, its official name, sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) and number of clubs is given:

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	FA Premier League (Barclays Premiership) 20 clubs
2	Football League First Division (Coca-Cola Football League Championship) 24 clubs
3	Football League Second Division (Coca-Cola Football League Division Two) 24 clubs
4	Football League Third Division (Coca-Cola Football League Division Three) 24 clubs
5	Football Conference (Nationwide Conference) 22 clubs
6	Football Conference North (Nationwide Conference North) 22 clubs			Football Conference South (Nationwide Conference South) 22 clubs
7	Northern Premier League Premier Division (UniBond League Premier Division) 22 clubs		Southern League Premier Division (Dr Martens League Premier Division) 22 clubs		Isthmian League Premier Division (Ryman League Premier Division) 22 clubs
8	Northern Premier League First Division (UniBond League First Division) 22 clubs		Southern League Midland and West Division (Dr Martens League Western Division) 22 clubs	Southern League Southern and East Division (Dr Martens League Eastern Division) 22 clubs	Isthmian League Division One (Ryman League Division One) 22 clubs
9+	Many more regional leagues (see articles on leagues above for their immediate feeders)

This article is part of the Football in England series.
The FA	England team	League system	English clubs	Records
	FA Premier League			FA Cup
				Community Shield
The Football League	First Division | Second Division | Third Division			Football League Cup
				Football League Trophy
National League System	Football Conference Northern Premier League | Southern League | Isthmian League			FA Trophy
				FA Vase