National Leagues Pyramid

What is it?

The National League Pyramid, formerly known as the National League System (NLS) is the structure for men's football leagues in England that sits below the English Football League (EFL).

How it’s structured

The Pyramid comprises  48 divisions and 969 clubs over six steps or tiers, below which are Regional Feeder Leagues. The Northern Premier League is one of three competitions (the others being the Isthmian and Southern Leagues) that operate Steps 3-4 of the Pyramid.

The Pyramid is managed by the Football Association and, through automatic promotion and relegation, provides a pathway for clubs to climb the football pyramid into EFL and beyond.

National Leagues Pyramid clubs support over 5,500youth and adult teams.

League boundaries

League boundaries change every season. That’s because the location of clubs promoted to, or relegated into each League is only known at the end of each season.

To maintain equal numbers of clubs in each division at Steps 1-4, it is sometimes necessary to laterally transfer clubs into another competition at the equivalent Step. 

For example, club x may finds itself transferred from an NPL Step 4 division into a Southern League Step 4 division, and vice versa.