The National League is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National League System and fifth-highest tier overall in the English football league system, after the Premier League and the EFL leagues, and is contested by 24 clubs. Through the National League, clubs get promoted to the EFL League Two, one of the divisions of the English Football League. Formerly the Conference National, the league was renamed the National League from the 2015–16 season."Football Conference to be renamed as National League", BBC Sport, 6 April 2015
Former English Football League clubs that currently compete in the National League include: Forest Green Rovers, Barrow, Carlisle United, Harrogate Town, Yeovil Town, Hartlepool United, Southend United, Scunthorpe United, Boston United, Sutton United, Kidderminster Harriers and Aldershot Town.
History
The league was formed as the Alliance Premier League in 1979, coming into force for the 1979–80 season. The league drew its clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League.
It greatly improved the quality of football at this lower level, as well as improving the financial status of the top clubs. This was reflected in 1986–87, when the Football League began accepting direct promotion and relegation between the Conference and the bottom division of the Football League, which at that time was known as the Football League Fourth Division and is now EFL League Two. The first team to be promoted by this method was Scarborough, and the first team relegated was Lincoln City, who regained their Football League status a year later as Conference champions.
Since 2002–03, the league has been granted a second promotion place, with a play off deciding who joins the champions in League Two. Previously, no promotion from the Conference would occur if the winners did not have adequate stadium facilities. If a club wins the division, but does not qualify for promotion, the next highest eligible club will be promoted in its place. If a club finishes in the play-off places but does not have an adequate stadium they will not be able to take part in the play-off competition. In that event such club shall not be replaced and the play-off structure and draw shall be adjusted as necessary by the National League Board on the basis of the remaining clubs' final league positions.
In 2004–05, the Conference increased its size by adding two lower divisions, the Conference North and Conference South respectively, with the original division being renamed Conference National. For the 2006–07 season, the Conference National expanded from 22 to 24 teams by promoting four teams while relegating two teams and introduced a "four up and four down" system between itself and the Conference North and Conference South.
Trophy The current National League trophy is designed and made by Thomas Lyte, the makers of FA Cup.
The trophy is made from silver plate with 24 carat gold plating and stands at 60cm tall. It was first handed to the winners of the competition at the end of the 2015/16 season and was created as part of a trio of trophies alongside the silverware handed to the winners of the National League South and North.
Sponsorship The league's first sponsor was Gola during the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons. When Gola's sponsorship ceased, carmaker Vauxhall Motors—then the British subsidiary of General Motors—took over and sponsored the league until the end of the 1997–98 season.
The 1998–99 Conference campaign began without sponsors for the Conference, but just before the end of the season a sponsorship was agreed with Nationwide Building Society. This lasted until the end of the 2006–07 season, after which Blue Square took over. This would also prompt the leagues being renamed, with the Conference National becoming the Blue Square Premier, the Conference North becoming Blue Square North and the Conference South becoming Blue Square South. In April 2010, Blue Square announced a further three-year sponsorship deal. From the start of the 2010–11 season the names were changed slightly, with "Blue Square" becoming "Blue Square Bet".
In July 2013 the Conference agreed another sponsorship deal with online payment firm Skrill. This lasted for only one year and the following July the Conference announced a brand-new three-year deal with Vanarama, later extended by two more years.
In 2015, the Football Conference was renamed the National League. The top division was also officially renamed the National League and the lower divisions renamed as National League North and National League South. In January 2019 the League signed a three-year deal with Motorama, Vanarama's sister company. It was extended to three more years in March 2021.
On 23 June 2025, vehicle rental company Enterprise Rent-A-Car paid to become the title sponsor of the National League.
PeriodSponsorName1984–1986GolaGola League1986–1998 General MotorsGM Vauxhall Conference1998–2007Nationwide Building SocietyNationwide Conference2007–2010Blue SquareBlue Square Premier2010–2013Blue Square Bet Premier2013–2014SkrillSkrill Premier2014–2015VanaramaVanarama Conference2015–2025Vanarama National League2025–presentEnterprise Rent-A-CarEnterprise National League
Media coverage Coverage of this league began in the mid-1990s when cable channels Wire TV, and later L!VE TV, broadcast weekly highlights and live matches. However, the closure of L!VE TV in 1999 saw coverage switch to Sky Sports. In August 2006, Setanta Sports signed a five-year deal with the Conference and Setanta Sports began showing live matches in the 2007–08 season, with 79 live games each season. Included in the deal were the annual play-off matches as well as the Conference League Cup, a cup competition for the three Football Conference divisions. Setanta showed two live matches a week, with one on Thursday evening and one at the weekend. In Australia the Conference National was broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia. Setanta Sports suffered financial problems and ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2009.Setanta goes off air in Great Britain Digital Spy, 23 June 2009 Sky Sports broadcast the Conference play-off final 2010 at Wembley Stadium.
On 19 August 2010, Premier Sports announced that it bought the live and exclusive UK television rights to 30 matches per season from the Conference Premier for a total of three seasons. The 30 matches selected for broadcast included all five Conference Premier play-offs. The deal with the Football Conference was a revenue sharing arrangement whereby clubs received 50% of revenue from subscriptions, on top of the normal rights fee paid by the broadcaster, once the costs of production were met. The Conference also earned 50% from all internet revenue associated with the deal, which allowed them to retain advertising rights allied to those adverts shown with their matches. During the 2010–11 season, Premier Sports failed to attract enough viewers to its Conference football broadcasts to share any revenue with the clubs beyond the £5,000 broadcast fee paid to home clubs and £1,000 to away clubs.
In July 2013, BT Sport announced a two-year deal to broadcast 30 live games per season including all five play-off matches. In 2015 the National League announced that it renewed a three-year deal with BT Sport.
In December 2022, the National League announced a new streaming service, to stream all games that BT Sport was not showing, on a two week trial phase. National League TV would make a full launch on 26 December.
In July 2024, DAZN acquired the rights to stream the National League for 7 years, until 2031, to be broadcast in the UK and worldwide, limited only by the blackout rule on Saturday 3pm matches in the UK.
Current membership The following 24 clubs compete in the National League during the 2025–26 season.
Stadiums and locations
Team Location Stadium CapacityAldershot Town AldershotEBB Stadium at The Recreation Ground 7,200Altrincham AltrinchamMoss Lane 7,700Boreham WoodBorehamwoodMeadow Park 4,502Boston UnitedBoston Jakemans Community Stadium 5,061Brackley TownBrackleySt. James Park 3,500Braintree TownBraintree Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium 4,222Carlisle UnitedCarlisleBrunton Park 17,949Eastleigh EastleighSilverlake Stadium 5,250FC Halifax Town HalifaxThe Shay 10,400 Forest Green Rovers Nailsworth The Bolt New Lawn 5,147Gateshead GatesheadGateshead International Stadium 11,800 Hartlepool United Hartlepool Victoria Park 7,856MorecambeMorecambeMazuma Mobile Stadium 6,476Rochdale Rochdale Crown Oil Arena 10,249Scunthorpe UnitedScunthorpeThe Attis Arena 9,088Solihull Moors SolihullDamson Park 5,500Southend United Southend-on-Sea Roots Hall 12,392Sutton United London VBS Community Stadium 5,013TamworthTamworthThe Lamb Ground 4,565Truro CityTruroTruro City Stadium 3,000Wealdstone London Grosvenor Vale 4,085Woking WokingThe Laithwaite Community Stadium 6,036Yeovil TownYeovil Huish Park 9,565York City YorkYork Community Stadium 8,500
Past winners Numbers in parentheses indicate wins up to that date. SeasonChampionsPlayoff winners1979–80AltrinchamNo playoffs1980–81Altrincham (2)1981–82Runcorn1982–83Enfield1983–84Maidstone United1984–85Wealdstone1985–86Enfield (2)1986–87Scarborough1987–88Lincoln City1988–89Maidstone United (2)1989–90Darlington1990–91Barnet1991–92Colchester United1992–93Wycombe Wanderers1993–94Kidderminster Harriers1994–95Macclesfield Town1995–96Stevenage Borough1996–97Macclesfield Town (2)1997–98Halifax Town1998–99Cheltenham Town1999–2000Kidderminster Harriers (2)2000–01Rushden & Diamonds2001–02Boston United2002–03Yeovil TownDoncaster Rovers2003–04Chester CityShrewsbury Town2004–05Barnet (2)Carlisle United2005–06Accrington StanleyHereford United2006–07Dagenham & RedbridgeMorecambe2007–08Aldershot TownExeter City2008–09Burton AlbionTorquay United2009–10Stevenage Borough (2)Oxford United2010–11Crawley TownAFC Wimbledon2011–12Fleetwood TownYork City2012–13Mansfield TownNewport County2013–14Luton TownCambridge United2014–15Barnet (3)Bristol Rovers2015–16Cheltenham Town (2)Grimsby Town2016–17Lincoln City (2) Forest Green Rovers2017–18Macclesfield Town (3) Tranmere Rovers2018–19Leyton Orient Salford City2019–20Barrow Harrogate Town2020–21Sutton UnitedHartlepool United2021–22Stockport CountyGrimsby Town2022–23WrexhamNotts County2023–24ChesterfieldBromley2024–25Barnet (4)Oldham Athletic2025–26York CityRochdale
No promotion to the Football League until 1987. No promotion due to the club's stadium not being adequate for the Football League. Boston United were allowed to retain their championship title and subsequent promotion to the Football League despite having been found guilty of serious financial misconduct during their title winning season. Following their later relegation at the end of the 2006–07 season, due to entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement and having restrictions placed on paying football creditors by HMRC, Boston were relegated a further division and placed in the Conference North. Clubs voted to end the 2019–20 National League season using points per game after the season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Play-off results SeasonPlay-offs eliminatorFirst semi-finalSecond semi-finalFinalFinal venue2002–03N/ADagenham & Redbridge 2–1 Morecambe Morecambe 2–1 Dagenham & Redbridge2–2 draw on aggregate
Dagenham won 3–2 on penaltiesDoncaster Rovers 1–1 Chester City Chester City 1–1 Doncaster Rovers2–2 draw on aggregate
Doncaster won 4–3 on penaltiesDoncaster Rovers 3–2 Dagenham & RedbridgeDoncaster won with a golden goal(Match report)Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent2003–04Aldershot Town 1–1 Hereford United Hereford United 0–0 Aldershot Town1–1 draw on aggregate
Aldershot won 4–2 on penaltiesBarnet 2–1 Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town 1–0 Barnet2–2 draw on aggregate