Football is the most popular sport in England. In the UK, football is played on the international level as well as with the league system.
League system in English Football
In England, an interconnected system of leagues has been devised for men’s association football clubs. This system is also known as the football pyramid. There is a specific hierarchy of all the leagues, with the English Premier League being on the top. The clubs are promoted and relegated at different levels from different leagues based on their performance. This system ensures that every club, however small it might be, can get promoted based on excellent performances and compete with the best of the English football clubs. Around 140 individual leagues are present in this system. There are further 480 divisions in these 140 leagues.
Every year, new clubs join the league and some leave the leagues. Hence, although the exact number of clubs and teams is not known, it is estimated that around 5,300 clubs and 7000 teams compete with each other every year.
- History
The world’s first association football league was founded in England. It was created in 1888 by William McGregor. He was the club director of Aston Villa. The league was named ‘The Football League’. Along with McGregor, there were twelve other founding members.
- Structure
The English Premier League tops the hierarchy. Every year, twenty teams battle against each other to get the title of the English Premier League. All the teams were based in England until 2010. Currently, two Welsh teams (Swansea City and Cardiff City) also compete in the league.
The English Football league is the second league in the hierarchy. The league is divided into three divisions. Each division consists of 24 clubs. It makes the total number of teams competing in the English Football League 72.
These being the top two leagues, there are more leagues down the hierarchy.
- The rules of promotion and relegation of the teams
- The bottom three teams are relegated from the English Premier League.
- The bottom three teams are relegated from the English Football League. For the three vacant spots in the English Premier League, the top two teams in the English Football League are promoted automatically. For the third position, playoffs are conducted for the next four teams. The winner gets the third vacant spot in the Premier League.
Some clubs based in England also prefer to play outside this League system in England. Regarding women’s football, there is a nine tier league pyramid functioning parallel with men’s football.
National Football in England
The United Kingdom, as a whole, doesn’t have a football team. The UK is made up of four different countries. Each country has its football association.
Given below are the football associations across the United Kingdom-
- The Football Association
Responsible for football in England. It Was founded in 1863.
- Scottish Football Association
Responsible for football in Scotland. It was founded in 1873.
- Football Association of Wales
Responsible for football in Wales. It was founded in 1876.
- Irish Football Association
Responsible for football in Ireland. It was founded in 1880.
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