34-739: The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992 . Following the foundation of the FA Premier League , the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier became known as the Football League Second Division, while the second level was branded "First Division," below the Premiership. After the rebranding of
68-646: A given district, and may be little more than derbies, such as the Gloucestershire Cup , which originally included all teams in Gloucestershire , but then came to be contested as a Bristol derby . Level one in the pyramid, the top division of English football, is run by the Premier League (which gives its name to the competition in that division), the winners of which are regarded as the champions of England. Levels two to four are run by
102-725: A league which does form part of the system. The six levels immediately below the Premier League and three-level English Football League are known as the National League System and come under the jurisdiction of The Football Association . In May 2014 The FA announced provisional plans for a new division between the English Football League and the National League which would include "B" teams of higher-level clubs. They later reneged on
136-478: A level. In addition to sporting performance, promotion is usually contingent on meeting criteria set by the higher league, especially concerning appropriate facilities and finances. In theory, it is possible for a lowly local amateur club to achieve annual promotions and within a few years rise to the pinnacle of the English game and become champions of the Premier League . While this may be unlikely in practice (at
170-561: Is the National League . It contains a nation-wide division (also called the National League ) (level 5) of 24 clubs, and is the lowest level with a single nationwide league. This division, like the four above, is a full-time professional competition, although some promoted clubs retain part-time status. There are two divisions at level 6, covering the north ( National League North ) and south ( National League South ), with 24 clubs each. Some of these clubs are full-time professional and
204-657: The English Football League . Together, these four divisions make up what is known as "league football". The leagues below level four are classed as "non-League football", meaning they are outside the EFL. The leagues at levels five to ten comprise the National League System (NLS), and come under the direct jurisdiction of the Football Association. The top level (level 5) of the NLS is known as "step 1",
238-741: The Irish Land League . But this name still won by a majority vote and was selected. The competition guaranteed fixtures for all of its member clubs. Geographically, these were split equally between the North and the Midlands. A rival English league called the Football Alliance operated from 1889 to 1892. In 1892 it was decided to formally merge the two leagues, and so the Football League Second Division
272-466: The Midlands ( Aston Villa , Derby County , Notts County , Stoke , West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers ). The system consists of a pyramid of leagues, bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation . A certain number of the most successful clubs in each league can rise to a higher league, whilst those that finish the season at the bottom of their league can be sent down
306-527: The football pyramid , is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England , with five teams from Wales , one from Guernsey , one from Jersey and one from the Isle of Man also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to
340-668: The FA. They have to accept it or appeal but cannot reject it at an annual general meeting. The exact number of clubs varies from year to year as clubs join and leave leagues, merge, or fold altogether, but an estimated average of 15 clubs per division implies that more than 7,000 teams of nearly 5,300 clubs are members of a league in the English men's football league system. The pyramid for women's football in England runs separately into ten tiers. There are no official definitions of any level below 11 for men or below 10 for women. Any references to
374-722: The Football League in 2003–04 , the second tier became known as the Championship, and the third tier became known as Football League One . In 1888, Scotsman William McGregor a director of Aston Villa , was the main force between meetings held in London and Manchester involving 12 football clubs, with an eye to a league competition. These 12 clubs would later become the Football League 's 12 founder members. The meetings were held in London on 22 March 1888. The main concern
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#1732771939939408-825: The Midlands), Southern Football League South (which covers south and southwest of England, with one club from South Wales ) and the Isthmian League (which includes clubs from the south-east of England as well as Guernsey from the Channel Islands ). All of the leagues have Premier Divisions of 22 teams (level 7). Below these, and split by region, the Southern Football Leagues has two parallel divisions of 20 teams (level 8). The Isthmian League and Northern Premier League each have three parallel level 8 divisions of 20 teams each. Level 9 contains
442-633: The Northern division. For the 1950–51 season the division was expanded to 24 clubs, with Colchester United and Gillingham joining. Only one promotion place was available each season from the Third Division South to the Second Division, which made it very difficult to win promotion. Six teams, Brighton & Hove Albion , Exeter City , Northampton Town , Southend United , Swindon Town , and Watford , were ever-present in
476-429: The Premier League and 72 clubs in the English Football League are all full-time professional clubs. Before the establishment of the Premier League in 1992, the Football League, as it was called then, included all 92 clubs, in four divisions. Clubs outside the Football League were referred to as non-League clubs, and this naming continues for clubs below the four professional divisions. The top tier of non-League football
510-534: The Third Division North, and Aberdare Athletic and Charlton Athletic who joined The Football League for the first time. Several Midlands-based teams were included in the Third Division South from time to time, although most were geographically closer to their Northern division rivals; Nottingham Forest and Notts County played in the Southern division although nearby Derby County spent time in
544-591: The division for the 30 years of its existence. Of the teams that played in the Third Division South, Portsmouth , Ipswich Town , and Nottingham Forest were later English football champions. Its final season was 1957–58, after which the North and South sections were merged to form a single Third Division and a new Fourth Division . The top 12 clubs in Division Three South, except for the Champions Brighton & Hove Albion , went into
578-645: The first team to win promotion to the First Division. Test matches were abolished in 1898 after Burnley and Stoke conspired to deliberately draw their test match 0–0, which resulted in Burnley being promoted and Stoke being saved from relegation. Relegation to the Football League Third Division was in place in the season before the latter even started, as Grimsby Town (last place in 1919–20) made way for Cardiff City and formed
612-513: The league the club is in, and depends on the number of Level 9 clubs participating. For instance, the 2017–18 FA Cup saw 77 teams compete from level 10 out of the 338 in total at that level. Below level 11 the pyramid becomes regional and the cups become accordingly regional. Further down the pyramid is split on a county basis, counties having their own cups accordingly. This excludes some tournaments marked "Senior Cups", which often are competitions between teams representing top professional clubs in
646-458: The more densely populated areas there are leagues more than twenty layers below the Premier League. There are also leagues in various parts of the country which are not officially part of the system as they do not have formal agreements with other leagues, but are recognised at various levels by county football associations. Clubs from these leagues may, if they feel they meet the appropriate standard of play and have suitable facilities, apply to join
680-883: The new Third Division with southern clubs. For subsequent seasons, two clubs were relegated into either the Third Division North or Third Division South depending on their geographical location. When the Third Division was reunified in 1958–59, the relegation arrangement was kept; a third club began being relegated in 1974. See List of teams promoted from the English Football League Championship and predecessors for winners from 1893 to 1992 and List of winners of English Football League One and predecessors for winners from 1993 to 2004. English football league system The English football league system , also known as
714-685: The next (level 6) as "step 2", and so on. Until 2020, level 11 divisions were designated as "step 7", but that year were re-designated as "Regional Feeder Leagues". After the 2023–24 season, four runners-up competed in the play-offs where an additional club was guaranteed promotion from each step 5 division, with the number of relegations from each of the eight level 8 divisions remained at two as each step 4 division increased its divisional size to 22 teams. The resulting 16 vacancies at step 5 were filled by relegating only one club per level 9 division, rather than two. Ahead of 2024–25, two promotions out of each step 5 division into its step 4 counterpart remained and
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#1732771939939748-1656: The number of clubs automatically relegated out of each step 5 division reverted to two, reflecting a long-term FA aim to "create consistency" at each step of the NLS pyramid. Level League(s) / division(s) 1 Premier League 20 clubs – 3 relegations 2 EFL Championship 24 clubs – 3 promotions, 3 relegations 3 EFL League One 24 clubs – 3 promotions, 4 relegations 4 EFL League Two 24 clubs – 4 promotions, 2 relegations 5 (Step 1) National League 24 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations 6 (Step 2) National League North 24 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations National League South 24 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations 7 (Step 3) Northern Premier League Premier Division 22 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations Southern League Premier Division Central 22 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations Southern League Premier Division South 22 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations Isthmian League Premier Division 22 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations 8 (Step 4) Northern Premier League Division One East 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Northern Premier League Division One West 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Northern Premier League Division One Midlands 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Southern League Division One Central 21 clubs – 2p, 4r Southern League Division One South 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Isthmian League Division One South Central 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Isthmian League Division One North 22 clubs – 2p, 4r Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League
782-504: The others are semi-professional. Below level 6, some of the stronger clubs are semi-professional, but continuing down the tiers, soon all the clubs are amateur. Next down from the National League are four regional leagues, each associated with different geographical areas, although some overlap exists. They are the Northern Premier League (which covers the north of England), Southern Football League Central (which covers
816-526: The plan to include Premier League "B" teams in the new division and shortly thereafter scrapped the idea altogether. The English football league system does not include the amateur version of the game often called Sunday league football . These leagues are independent entities with no promotion or relegation involving the football pyramid. However, some Sunday league clubs have been known to join pyramid leagues if they desire to progress higher. There are also some Saturday leagues which are not officially part of
850-463: The pyramid, although teams frequently leave these for pyramid leagues. At the top is the single division of the Premier League (level 1, which is often referred to as the "top flight"), containing 20 clubs. Below the Premier League is the English Football League (EFL) (formerly 'the Football League'), which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs each: The Championship (level 2), League One (level 3), and League Two (level 4). The 20 clubs in
884-666: The record for most second tier championships (8). It expanded over the years to its final total of 24 clubs, as follows: For the first few years, there was no automatic promotion to the First Division. Instead, the top few teams in Division Two, including the winners, contested a series of test matches against the bottom teams in Division One. Small Heath , Second Division champions in 1892–93 , were denied promotion after losing in test matches to Newton Heath . However, runners-up Sheffield United beat Accrington to become
918-546: The structure at lower levels should not be regarded as definitive. Some England-based men's clubs play outside the English football league system . The world's first association football league, named simply The Football League , was created in 1888 by Aston Villa 's club director William McGregor . It was dominated by those clubs who had supported professionalism. The twelve founding members were six from Lancashire ( Accrington , Blackburn Rovers , Burnley , Bolton Wanderers , Everton and Preston North End ) and six from
952-511: The top divisions of a large group of 16 sub-regional leagues. Each of these leagues has a different divisional setup, but they all have one thing in common: there are yet more leagues below them, each covering smaller and smaller geographical levels. Being members of a league at a particular level also affects eligibility for Cup, or single-elimination, competitions. In the case of the FA Cup, entrance from Level 10 clubs depends upon ranking within
986-424: The very least, in the short run), there certainly is significant movement within the pyramid. The top five levels contain one division each and are nationwide in scope. Below this, the levels have progressively more parallel leagues, with each covering progressively smaller geographic areas. Many leagues have more than one division. At the lower levels the existence of leagues becomes intermittent, although in some of
1020-487: The very top of the system, the Premier League . Below that are levels 2–4 organised by the English Football League , then the National League System from levels 5–10 administered by the FA , and thereafter Regional feeder leagues run by relevant county FAs on an ad hoc basis. It also often happens that the Premier Division of a Regional Feeder League (Step 7 or Level 11) has its constitution given to it by
1054-567: Was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to one or the other according to geographical position. Some clubs in the English Midlands shuttled between the Third Division South and the Third Division North according to the composition of the two leagues in any one season. This division
Football League Second Division - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-635: Was created in 1921 from the Third Division , formed one year earlier when the Football League absorbed the leading clubs from the Southern League . In 1921, a Northern section was also created called the Third Division North. The Third Division South was formed from the original 22 teams in the Third Division, with the exceptions of Crystal Palace , who were promoted to the Second Division , Grimsby Town who were transferred to
1122-655: Was formed, consisting mostly of Football Alliance clubs. The existing League clubs, plus three of the strongest Alliance clubs, comprised the Football League First Division . The Second Division was formed in 1892 with 12 clubs, most of which had previously played in the Football Alliance . The original members were: Ardwick (now Manchester City ), Bootle , Burton Swifts , Crewe Alexandra , Darwen , Grimsby Town , Lincoln City , Northwich Victoria , Port Vale , Sheffield United , Small Heath (now Birmingham City ), and Walsall . Leicester City hold
1156-512: Was that an early exit in the knockout format of the FA Cup could leave clubs with no matches for almost a year; not only could they suffer heavy financial losses, but fans did not wait long without a game, when other teams were playing. Matters were finalised on 17 April in Manchester. McGregor had voted against the name The Football League, as he was concerned that it would be associated with
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